Speaker 1: From a player to a coach to now starting a
Speaker 1: program from the ground up. He is University of San
Speaker 1: Diego Beach volleyball head coach Derek Olsen, and he talks
Speaker 1: about his unique journey and is now progressed to start
Speaker 1: a program next on episode eighty four of the Masters
Speaker 1: in Coaching podcast.
Speaker 2: Let's go.
Speaker 1: Well, welcome into episode eighty four the Masters in Coaching
Speaker 1: podcasts Here on iHeartRadio or wherever you are consuming, we
Speaker 1: certainly appreciate it. I am Tim Kates from A five
Speaker 1: seventy LA Sports and iHeart Radio, and we are so
Speaker 1: honored to have another guest here on the Masters in
Speaker 1: Coaching podcast. And we've talked to a lot of coaches
Speaker 1: and administrators, folks that have extended their careers into retirement,
Speaker 1: those who are in the middle of their careers and excelling.
Speaker 1: And it is so excited to talk to this week's
Speaker 1: guests because not only he has he excelled everywhere he
Speaker 1: has been, but now he's starting a new endeavor where
Speaker 1: he's actually long. She need a Division one program that
Speaker 1: doesn't start until twenty twenty seven, so we're gonna get
Speaker 1: a fresh perspective on starting a program in twenty twenty
Speaker 1: six and twenty twenty seven at the Division one level.
Speaker 1: He of courses Derek Olsen, and he joins us now
Speaker 1: from the University of San Diego. Derek, how you doing.
Speaker 2: I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Tim absolutely looking forward to this conversation. We've talked to
Speaker 1: a lot of coaches and administrators, as I mentioned, and
Speaker 1: none we're in that first phase of starting a program
Speaker 1: maybe maybe first time coaches, maybe first time coaches at
Speaker 1: a different level, and tried to figure it out. But
Speaker 1: last fall you were named the new beach volleyball coach
Speaker 1: in charge of the entire program at University of San
Speaker 1: Diego and it's not starting until twenty twenty seven. So
Speaker 1: what is it like for you right now?
Speaker 2: Well, it's different, right it's a unique opportunity.
Speaker 3: As you said, we don't have a team this year,
Speaker 3: we're not competing, but it does provide me, you know,
Speaker 3: a unique opportunity to have a runway to build this
Speaker 3: thing out and do it the right way.
Speaker 2: So you know, I'm sure we'll dive in.
Speaker 3: But a lot of this year instead of you know,
Speaker 3: practicing with the team and being with them daily, it's
Speaker 3: recruiting and fundraising.
Speaker 2: Are the two main things.
Speaker 1: Do you have a facility already or is that something
Speaker 1: in the works.
Speaker 2: It's in the work.
Speaker 3: So we actually just submitted plans to the city, the
Speaker 3: goals to break around this summer and then to have
Speaker 3: it done ideally by the time we report next September
Speaker 3: when school starts. But they've kind of given us a
Speaker 3: timeline of somewhere somewhere in the fall where it'll be
Speaker 3: done and we'll be competing in twenty twenty seven on them.
Speaker 1: Now, this isn't your first coaching job, so you're you're
Speaker 1: not fresh to this and you know, trying to figure
Speaker 1: out as you go, but you sort of are building
Speaker 1: the programmer. You've coached University of Washington, you coached at Cal,
Speaker 1: you got extensive coaching the background at the elite beach
Speaker 1: volleyball level, USA Volleyball, International Volleyball. What is this endeavor
Speaker 1: like though? It was just something that was maybe part
Speaker 1: of the challenge and part of the fun of starting
Speaker 1: a program from ground zero.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, it really is a dream job. And I'm so
Speaker 3: you know, I'm so loyal.
Speaker 2: To San Diego. I love this place.
Speaker 3: It's been a dream of mine to actually have this
Speaker 3: job going back eight nine years ago. This is where
Speaker 3: you know I used to live I consider home, and
Speaker 3: so to have this opportunity come up has been, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, really a dream come true.
Speaker 2: And it is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's a it's a challenge in a lot
Speaker 3: of ways. But you know, with our sport, I think
Speaker 3: it's considered the fastest growing sport in NCAA history. So
Speaker 3: there's been a lot of you know, development and firsts.
Speaker 3: And you know, even with my other two positions up
Speaker 3: at University of Washington and then before that at UC Berkeley,
Speaker 3: there was.
Speaker 2: A lot of developing and creating.
Speaker 3: And you know, because every program has kind of started
Speaker 3: from you know, ground zero, but has taken a few
Speaker 3: years to develop to you know, where they are now.
Speaker 3: And so a lot of the things that I learned
Speaker 3: from my previous stops I'm applying here. You know, Like
Speaker 3: I don't think they would have hired a brand new
Speaker 3: coach in position. They wanted somebody with experience, and I
Speaker 3: kind of had that unique experience of you know, not
Speaker 3: necessarily starting from the ground up, but putting a lot
Speaker 3: of systems and you know, a lot of philosophies in
Speaker 3: place to this startup.
Speaker 1: I was shocked to hear that.
Speaker 2: Correct me if I'm on wrong.
Speaker 1: University of San Diego this is the first D one
Speaker 1: beach volleyball program in the San Diego area. Mean, we
Speaker 1: think of West Coast volleyball, beach volleyball the epicenter for
Speaker 1: you know, the volleyball circuits and high school volleyball and
Speaker 1: you know Olympic volleyball. Is University of San Diego really
Speaker 1: the first D one program to have beach volleyball in
Speaker 1: that area.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's true, I know it.
Speaker 3: You would have thought that it would have been, you know,
Speaker 3: an established place within our sport from the beginning.
Speaker 2: But you know, credit to Kimya.
Speaker 3: Our athletic director, for launching this program and taking the
Speaker 3: necessary step.
Speaker 2: So that we we do have a program.
Speaker 3: And I'll tell you what, the city has been really
Speaker 3: forthcoming and their support and you know, appreciation for having
Speaker 3: a school adopt the program. And so yeah, it's it's
Speaker 3: been it's been really cool to see it.
Speaker 1: Why do you think it took so long for Division
Speaker 1: one to have beach volleyball in the San Diego area.
Speaker 1: There's other schools in that area. Why us D?
Speaker 2: Why? Now? Yeah, you know, that's a good question.
Speaker 3: And I think a lot of us that have been
Speaker 3: in San Diego for the last ten plus years have
Speaker 3: been asking those questions.
Speaker 2: And you know, I think for every schools it's different, right.
Speaker 3: Sometimes it comes down to a money issue, Sometimes it
Speaker 3: comes down to a Title nine issue. Sometimes it's just
Speaker 3: you know, what the ad wants or admin wants, and
Speaker 3: so you know, I think, you know, I'm obviously biased,
Speaker 3: but to me, it's a no brainer in San Diego,
Speaker 3: and I think we'll be real competitive.
Speaker 2: You know, from the jump.
Speaker 1: I'm curious in the recruiting that you're doing to start
Speaker 1: this program. And I asked this because I had daughters
Speaker 1: that went through it in lacrosse, and I remember, you know,
Speaker 1: looking at programs or maybe we're just starting across the
Speaker 1: country at the Division one or Division two level, and okay,
Speaker 1: there's an opportunity there. They don't have players already, they're
Speaker 1: looking for players, they're looking to build a program, and
Speaker 1: they're looking for young players. What is going to be
Speaker 1: your philosophy? Have you started it as far as building
Speaker 1: that initial team as a new program. Are you looking
Speaker 1: for young players? Are you going to look into the
Speaker 1: portal bringing experienced players a little bit of bullf Have
Speaker 1: you figure out maybe a philosophy of how you're going
Speaker 1: to start your program with players.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's something that me and my two coaches,
Speaker 3: Mike Plachek and Jayden Whitmarsh, we're talking constantly about. You know,
Speaker 3: it's tricky because we got to field an entire team.
Speaker 3: Our roster limit is nineteen, so we got to have
Speaker 3: you know, essentially nineteen by year one. But we don't
Speaker 3: want nineteen incoming freshmen, right, we want to balanced roster.
Speaker 3: The fortunate thing for us is the transfer portal makes
Speaker 3: that job easier for us, so we can go out
Speaker 3: and get athletes to have one year of eligibility, athletes
Speaker 3: that have two three, so that we can start off
Speaker 3: with a balanced roster. So that's fortunate for us. But
Speaker 3: you know, I was thinking the other day, actually, I
Speaker 3: have two young daughters, and I'm starting to think that, like,
Speaker 3: my daughters are going to be around the program a lot.
Speaker 3: So kind of my idea of recruiting, you know, on character,
Speaker 3: which is I think the most important thing is like
Speaker 3: who do I want to be role models for my daughters?
Speaker 3: Which is, you know, a perspective that I haven't even
Speaker 3: considered before, but it kind of gives me a new
Speaker 3: lens to operate within. But yeah, I mean, this is
Speaker 3: a unique opportunity, right, Like I have an entrepreneurial spirit.
Speaker 3: I love the building and the creating something rather than
Speaker 3: just jumping on something that's already well established and good,
Speaker 3: you know. So I'm looking for individuals that share that,
Speaker 3: you know, athletes that want to be a part of
Speaker 3: that process and you know, see that vision as we do.
Speaker 3: Because I think, yeah, like you said, it's a it's
Speaker 3: a really unique opportunity to be the first.
Speaker 1: I imagine and I'm just speculating. I'm I'm guessing your
Speaker 1: inbox for your email and your assistance is getting filled
Speaker 1: up pretty quickly on a daily basis. And now knowing
Speaker 1: that USD is going to have a D one Beach
Speaker 1: Volleyball program, you probably don't have to go out and
Speaker 1: sell the program, Derek, because I imagine you're getting flooded
Speaker 1: with kids looking to come to your program because of
Speaker 1: the location, being the D one program and being a
Speaker 1: new program. Am I right that? I mean you're probably
Speaker 1: getting indudated with kids that are just trying to get
Speaker 1: into your program.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we're seeing it, you know through our
Speaker 3: email box. We have camps ongoing and they're filling up
Speaker 3: within you know hours, to be honest, Wow, So yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean I kind of expected it to some degree,
Speaker 3: but probably not at this level.
Speaker 2: And you know, we're you know, we're just we're just starting.
Speaker 3: So I think when we kind of establish our identity
Speaker 3: a little bit and establish you know, how good we
Speaker 3: can be, I think that's only gonna get become more.
Speaker 2: So we're going to.
Speaker 1: Get more to the program. Some of your philosophies you
Speaker 1: mentioned character is going to be a big thing for you,
Speaker 1: and I want to touch on that in a minute,
Speaker 1: but I kind of want to go back to how
Speaker 1: you got into coaching. You're a former player, but you
Speaker 1: played indoor volleyball and then went out and played outdoor volleyball.
Speaker 1: You played on the AVP Tour, and then you got
Speaker 1: into coaching. Why what was it about coaching at that
Speaker 1: point you said, I want to get into it. I
Speaker 1: want to coach beach volleyball.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I grew up in a family of educators, so my
Speaker 3: mom taught elementary school, my dad was a pe teacher
Speaker 3: and a volleyball coach.
Speaker 2: My grand grandfather.
Speaker 3: High school coach, high school teacher, uncles, you know, so
Speaker 3: it's kind of been what I've grown up in. But
Speaker 3: you know, I started playing volleyball at the University of Oregon,
Speaker 3: actually on their club team, and I grew up around
Speaker 3: it because, as I said, my dad coached and he
Speaker 3: ran his own club and he played, and so I
Speaker 3: always kind of was interested and curious about the sport,
Speaker 3: but it was a girl sport where where I'm from
Speaker 3: at the time, and so I never really had access
Speaker 3: to it. And then finally at the University of Oregon,
Speaker 3: you know, I tried out and made the team, and
Speaker 3: I was terrible, but I at least kind of knew
Speaker 3: what the game was supposed to look like and supposed
Speaker 3: to be. So for whatever reason, I became addicted and
Speaker 3: it was I remember the first couple of years just
Speaker 3: like frustrated every day because I wanted to be better
Speaker 3: in it and it's.
Speaker 2: A hard sport.
Speaker 3: But I think finding that at nineteen and going through
Speaker 3: like the very beginning stages of it kind of gave
Speaker 3: me a unique perspective of how that process is and
Speaker 3: I could actually like absorb it and comprehend the you know,
Speaker 3: very beginner all the way through to you know, the
Speaker 3: professional level, and so that gave me a unique perspective
Speaker 3: something that I've leaned on in my coaching career. But
Speaker 3: when I graduated from the University of Oregon in two
Speaker 3: thousand and six, I moved down to San Diego, you know,
Speaker 3: with with goals to be a professional beach volleyball player.
Speaker 2: And so, you know, I worked hard at it.
Speaker 3: I sacrificed a lot, I you know, accomplished a lot
Speaker 3: of goals. I had to keep moving the goalpost, if
Speaker 3: you will, and got way better than I ever thought
Speaker 3: I could. And that actually, throughout that process gave me
Speaker 3: confidence that you know, I never really knew that I had.
Speaker 3: It's not like I was lacking self esteem or anything
Speaker 3: like that, but I had never done something like that
Speaker 3: where I put years into my development for something and
Speaker 3: saw the you know, the product of that, which was
Speaker 3: really cool.
Speaker 2: And eye opening to me.
Speaker 3: And it kind of gave me this recipe for success, like, hey,
Speaker 3: this can actually apply to other domains, this can apply
Speaker 3: across the board, and I kind of lived it, and so,
Speaker 3: you know, there's a point in time where I was
Speaker 3: I was coaching towards the end of my career, and
Speaker 3: I always say, you know, the switch for me was
Speaker 3: what you used to keep me up at night was
Speaker 3: my own like practice, my own training, my own competition's
Speaker 3: coming up. Then for whatever reason, all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: it switched to how am I going to train my
Speaker 3: athletes tomorrow? How am I going to get this person better?
Speaker 3: And thinking about drills and ideas for them, And then
Speaker 3: it was just kind of a you know, the riding
Speaker 3: was on the wall, you know, because I still had
Speaker 3: plenty of years in me physically, but I just kind
Speaker 3: of knew with that mind shift that I wanted to
Speaker 3: pursue coaching.
Speaker 1: What is it about coaching at the college level? Because
Speaker 1: you've coached Olympic teams, part of the Morocco national team,
Speaker 1: a club level, elite volleyball levels of coaching.
Speaker 2: Up and down the board.
Speaker 1: But why do you being you settled maybe at the
Speaker 1: D one level and what you've been doing at Cal
Speaker 1: Washington and now USD.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's the perfect environment because I mean
Speaker 3: there's I believe in a very holistic approach to this
Speaker 3: whole thing. And it's not just you know, the skills
Speaker 3: and drills that you do on the court during practice.
Speaker 3: There's so much more that goes into it. And so
Speaker 3: this system, this environment actually allows us to dive deeper
Speaker 3: into those other areas strength and conditioning, nutrition, mental skills,
Speaker 3: you name it. There's a bunch that goes into it,
Speaker 3: and you get the same players for an entire year
Speaker 3: that you get to just like really spend time with
Speaker 3: and develop and and to me, that's that's really cool.
Speaker 2: At the club level, you know, you get them.
Speaker 3: For practice, but there's not a ton of time outside
Speaker 3: of practice that you know you can help develop them.
Speaker 3: So it's a unique, unique environment, but it's really really
Speaker 3: cool and you get to be really hands on.
Speaker 1: You mentioned that when you were pursuing that pro career
Speaker 1: at the Grind you went through and and just the
Speaker 1: process and then flipping that switch, as you said, from
Speaker 1: a player's mentality to a coach's mentality. When you look
Speaker 1: at your style of coaching and how you you know,
Speaker 1: work your programs and in your players, is it based
Speaker 1: on that process that you went through. Is it based
Speaker 1: on that plus how you were a coach, maybe philosophies
Speaker 1: that you took from family members who were educators and coachers.
Speaker 1: When you look at how you, I guess approach coaching
Speaker 1: in your style and where where do you kind of
Speaker 1: get it from?
Speaker 3: Probably all of that, to be honest, you know, in
Speaker 3: my career, our sport is is interesting. Ten years ago,
Speaker 3: there wasn't a lot of coaching in our sport, so
Speaker 3: I grew up and developed almost myself. Like I didn't
Speaker 3: have coaches in beach volleyball, so I, you know, would
Speaker 3: watch this person, do you know a certain skill or
Speaker 3: run a certain drill, and I would adopt it. It
Speaker 3: was a whole lot of just like monkey see, monkey do,
Speaker 3: and and borrowing ideas and really training myself.
Speaker 2: And so I think.
Speaker 3: That also so helped, you know, like train my coaches
Speaker 3: eye and develop some like coaching characteristics that have helped me.
Speaker 3: But I think, you know, really my philosophy and kind
Speaker 3: of what I've learned along the way is I mean,
Speaker 3: it's a I like to coach the individual, like I
Speaker 3: don't have a cookie cutter. Everybody's got to do do
Speaker 3: it this way because to me, that's not the best approach.
Speaker 3: And I think that approach could work, and it certainly
Speaker 3: has to some degree. But if I'm going to get
Speaker 3: the most out of my athletes, I want to meet
Speaker 3: them where they're at and I want to see if
Speaker 3: I can develop them as individuals.
Speaker 1: You mentioned no coaching in beach volleyball, and I want
Speaker 1: to kind of pick up on that. Why was there
Speaker 1: no coaching for beach volleyball? Was it just because the
Speaker 1: players maybe knew more than the coaches and can teach themselves.
Speaker 1: And now we're maybe at a point where that generation
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna lump you into that great generation of
Speaker 1: volleyball players that now are older and can't be coaches.
Speaker 1: Is it just the evolution that way? Is that why
Speaker 1: we have coaching now when beach volleyball?
Speaker 3: You know, it's I think part of it is money, right,
Speaker 3: Coaching costs money, and the way our sport has been
Speaker 3: set up traditionally, you only get paid if you depending
Speaker 3: on how well you do in tournaments, right, And so
Speaker 3: it just wasn't and especially if you're playing you know, internationally,
Speaker 3: you're traveling a bunch, Like those costs just add up
Speaker 3: if you're also having a coach.
Speaker 2: You know, I and I did have.
Speaker 3: Some coaching like later on in my career, but it
Speaker 3: was you know, for a few trainings here and there.
Speaker 2: It wasn't like a consistent, consistent thing.
Speaker 3: But really it just it became a bigger thing really
Speaker 3: because of NCAA and obviously you have to have a
Speaker 3: coach with these NCAA teams, so it created more coaching opportunities,
Speaker 3: which is really cool.
Speaker 2: And then because of the NCAA.
Speaker 3: Growth, the club level and the junior level really took off,
Speaker 3: and then there was more coaching opportunities at the club level.
Speaker 3: So it's almost like there was more coaching at these
Speaker 3: lower levels than there were at the professional levels.
Speaker 2: And it's still true to this day.
Speaker 3: You know, they're more and more pros are are, you know,
Speaker 3: having coaches now, and now our national governing body USA
Speaker 3: Volleyball is really supporting and providing coaching, you know, stipends
Speaker 3: and money for coaches, so it's now become much more prevalent.
Speaker 2: But yeah, back in the day, it was.
Speaker 3: That was an additional cost and we didn't want to
Speaker 3: spend that money, so we just we just went without.
Speaker 1: Derek Olsen is our guest. He's the first ever coach
Speaker 1: at University of San Diego Beach Volleyball program, launching the
Speaker 1: team for its inaugural twenty twenty seven season, and you
Speaker 1: mentioned character early on. I want to talk about what
Speaker 1: you're looking to do establishing this program. Certainly you're looking
Speaker 1: for volleyball players that can play and be competitive and
Speaker 1: ultimately win.
Speaker 2: But how are you setting up your program?
Speaker 1: It's maybe some found and some pillars that you want
Speaker 1: to establish right away with culture at USD.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean for sure.
Speaker 3: I mean I think the point of this whole thing
Speaker 3: is to win championships, right, But you're never going to
Speaker 3: get there if you can't build culture first and build
Speaker 3: a team that gets the most out of itself. And
Speaker 3: so that's hard. I think that's, you know, probably the
Speaker 3: hardest thing. But the goal is to establish that. I mean,
Speaker 3: we want synergy, which is one plus one equals three.
Speaker 3: That's what we wanted within our team. And you got
Speaker 3: to have high character athletes that will get you there.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean character is a.
Speaker 3: Lot harder to recruit on because you have a limited
Speaker 3: amount of time to get to know these athletes and
Speaker 3: figure out what they're all about, and you know, you
Speaker 3: get it wrong.
Speaker 2: Everybody gets it wrong.
Speaker 3: Watching skill and predicting skill is a lot easier because
Speaker 3: it's you can watch film and get that, but you
Speaker 3: know whether or not and an athlete communicates well gets
Speaker 3: along well with others, you know, has a gritty mindset,
Speaker 3: which is passion and perseverance towards long term goals. You
Speaker 3: don't know like that those things are so much harder
Speaker 3: to recruit on. So you know, we try and we
Speaker 3: look at those things and we have some ideas as
Speaker 3: to how we assess those characteristics and athletes.
Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, too, we're we're
Speaker 2: recruiting high school kids. Like I was an idiot in
Speaker 2: high school.
Speaker 3: If anybody judged me on my character, you know, hopefully
Speaker 3: they would have seen some great things.
Speaker 2: But you know, we change, we grow, and so.
Speaker 3: You know, it's it's hard, but that's the goal is
Speaker 3: to you know, bring in athletes that see this not
Speaker 3: as the finish line, but as just the next step
Speaker 3: in their progression. And I don't need, you know, nineteen
Speaker 3: athletes that are trying to win gold medals eventually. I
Speaker 3: just want that nineteen athletes that are about the game,
Speaker 3: work well with others, and you know, are competitive.
Speaker 1: We get a lot of parents that listen and watch
Speaker 1: you and coaches and administrators on this podcast, and I
Speaker 1: think the biggest feedback I get is, you know, can
Speaker 1: you ask him as a parent, you know, how do
Speaker 1: I get my kid recruited?
Speaker 2: What are they looking for?
Speaker 1: And I think you're the perfect person to talk to
Speaker 1: about it starting a program. You've been successful at the
Speaker 1: Division one level and you're coaching a D one program,
Speaker 1: and that's where a lot.
Speaker 2: Of parents and kids want to get to.
Speaker 1: Is that level. If I'm a parent and I want
Speaker 1: to get my daughter or or I want to get
Speaker 1: my child recruited into volleyball indoor outdoor to a Division
Speaker 1: one school like yourselves, you know, what do I do?
Speaker 1: Do I have to play the club circuit? Do I
Speaker 1: need to reach out to the coaches? Well, the coaches
Speaker 1: find my child that they're good enough? You know, what
Speaker 1: do I need to do to get my kid to
Speaker 1: a D one program?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think.
Speaker 3: I think the biggest thing is to not worry about
Speaker 3: things that are outside of your control. And so much
Speaker 3: of that is outside of your control, what coaches think
Speaker 3: of you, where coaches are going to be at, how
Speaker 3: coaches are going.
Speaker 2: To respond, like, so much of.
Speaker 3: That is out of side of you know, the athlete
Speaker 3: and the parents' control. And so I always say like, look,
Speaker 3: you've got to just develop yourself and be as good
Speaker 3: as you possibly can, because I guarantee you you're going
Speaker 3: to open up more doors the better you are. And
Speaker 3: you know, of course with that on court skill, there's
Speaker 3: also that characteristic piece, you know, like work on your
Speaker 3: body language, work on how you are as a teammate,
Speaker 3: because when you get that opportunity in front of a coach, like,
Speaker 3: you want to represent yourself in the best way possible.
Speaker 3: But I see because I've you know, dealt with a
Speaker 3: lot of parents at the club level as well and
Speaker 3: have been on that side working with parents getting their
Speaker 3: athletes recruited, and there's there can be so much energy
Speaker 3: spent on you know, where they need to be, like,
Speaker 3: you know, how are we going to get looked at?
Speaker 3: Which is there's some truth to that obviously, and you
Speaker 3: need to be in the right places, but that's very
Speaker 3: very small in comparison to get as good as you
Speaker 3: possibly can, Like it's as simple as that, and you
Speaker 3: will find an home.
Speaker 2: You will find a home.
Speaker 3: Now with that being said, there's some there's some things
Speaker 3: like you know, attending camps, institutional camps. I think that's
Speaker 3: the best way because you get to work with coaches
Speaker 3: and you know, get to usually see campus a little
Speaker 3: bit and and you know, communicate with them in a
Speaker 3: way that's a little bit unique. So to me that
Speaker 3: would be, you know, probably a smart move. But man, like,
Speaker 3: the one thing I would say is just like, focus
Speaker 3: on what you can to be better.
Speaker 2: It's as simple as that, really, Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1: Derek Golsen is our guest here episode eighty four of
Speaker 1: the Matters in Coaching podcast here on iHeartRadio, talking a
Speaker 1: little bit about the program before it launches in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty seven. What are your goals? Have you set goals
Speaker 1: for year one? Have you set goals year three, year five?
Speaker 1: Long term? And if so, what are those goals look like?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I'd be lying if I if I
Speaker 3: said that I didn't have any. Obviously, I'm a competitor.
Speaker 3: I'm competitive. I want to be as good as I
Speaker 3: possibly can. I want to eventually win some championships, you know,
Speaker 3: and I'm a little bit impatient admittedly, Like I want
Speaker 3: this thing to be good from the jump, but so
Speaker 3: much of that is related to our athletes. And if
Speaker 3: I just you know, impose my goals and what I
Speaker 3: feel like I want to accomplish on them, I think
Speaker 3: it's kind of robbing them of their experience and their process.
Speaker 3: So you know, I have mine internally, you know, certainly,
Speaker 3: you know, like like I.
Speaker 2: Said, I want to be really competitive.
Speaker 3: But that's something that we're going to discuss as a
Speaker 3: team when I figure out, you know, which nineteen I
Speaker 3: have at the beginning of school. We're going to go
Speaker 3: through that process and say, all right, like what is
Speaker 3: does what does success look like to us?
Speaker 2: Can we define it? Are we in control of that definition?
Speaker 2: And what are our goals?
Speaker 3: But you know, it's important to set goals for sure,
Speaker 3: because you need a north star, you need to know
Speaker 3: where to go. But as cliches it sounds, it's all
Speaker 3: about the process. So that outcome will you know, there's
Speaker 3: no guarantee that you're going to win league or win
Speaker 3: a championship or make NCAAs or whatever the goal is.
Speaker 3: If you're not focused on the process. You know, the
Speaker 3: process will increase the likelihood of that, but it's not
Speaker 3: going to guarantee like anything can happen. So so yeah,
Speaker 3: I think I think goals are really important to have
Speaker 3: and collaborate with your team.
Speaker 1: Now, you mentioned you come from a family of educators
Speaker 1: and coaches. You're a coach now yourself and have been
Speaker 1: at an elite level, but found time to get your
Speaker 1: master's in Coaching and Exercise Science from Throughqordia University of Irvine.
Speaker 1: You got your degree from Oregon and you got your
Speaker 1: mattress from Cordia. Talk a little bit about why it
Speaker 1: was important for you, Derek, to get that matters in
Speaker 1: coaching and exercise science.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I knew it was always important.
Speaker 3: I mean, look, when I graduated from the University of Oregon,
Speaker 3: I decided that I wasn't going to pet school.
Speaker 2: I was done with school.
Speaker 3: So it wasn't until I matured a little bit and
Speaker 3: you know, found the passion for coaching that I realized, hey,
Speaker 3: I might want to go back and you know, educate
Speaker 3: myself further. But you know, it's difficult, especially when you're
Speaker 3: holding down a full time job, to go back and
Speaker 3: go back to school. And so you know, when when
Speaker 3: COVID hit in twenty twenty, I was coaching at CAL
Speaker 3: and I was the head coach. And after you know,
Speaker 3: three weeks of the shutdown, I could sense that we're
Speaker 3: in it for the long haul, Like this thing is
Speaker 3: not coming back anytime soon. I'm gonna have a ton
Speaker 3: of time on my hands. So that's when I decided,
Speaker 3: this is the perfect time. Everything's going to be online,
Speaker 3: you know, this is the perfect time to go and
Speaker 3: get my masters.
Speaker 2: And so I started researching.
Speaker 3: Programs and Concordia, you know, they had enrollment applications due
Speaker 3: like the next week or something like that. So I
Speaker 3: just jumped in and uh and did it. And the
Speaker 3: timing was was perfect, right while everybody else was. I
Speaker 3: mean I absorbed some Netflix, don't get me wrong, but
Speaker 3: while everybody else was just kind of living their best life,
Speaker 3: you know, doing their own thing. I got a master's
Speaker 3: and I actually spent a ton of time, uh writing
Speaker 3: a journal book that I that I wanted to produce.
Speaker 3: And so yeah, I had my fun too, and got
Speaker 3: to hang out with my wife a bunch. But I
Speaker 3: you know, made good use of the time that we
Speaker 3: had because I know it was obviously a unique year
Speaker 3: of not having to really work, and so yeah, I
Speaker 3: just went for it.
Speaker 1: Right time, right place to get it done and talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about the program and your experience in it,
Speaker 1: and you know, we often hear, oh, okay, I was
Speaker 1: going in with one mindset, and I learned a lot
Speaker 1: from a coach in a different sport and kind of
Speaker 1: talking path and watching the stream so to speak of
Speaker 1: different sports kind of opens you up the new maybe
Speaker 1: technique and philosophies and ways to approach coaching.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was I mean, really the program, I didn't
Speaker 3: really know what to expect, to be honest, because you
Speaker 3: hear coaching and and you know, as a coach, I
Speaker 3: was like, okay, I am a coach, Like, and I'm
Speaker 3: going to learn how to be a coach, Like what
Speaker 3: does this mean?
Speaker 2: Like is this just more of the same of what
Speaker 2: I already know?
Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean, you know, the whole program is
Speaker 3: really just this big exercise of being aware of self
Speaker 3: and being aware of you know, what your philosophies are
Speaker 3: and actually having to like put that in you know,
Speaker 3: in writing and articulate that and express that. So you know,
Speaker 3: it was really valuable for me, and obviously you know,
Speaker 3: I went through it, and I would encourage anybody to
Speaker 3: go through, you know, a master's and coaching because it
Speaker 3: really forces you to it forces you to be a
Speaker 3: better coach, to be honest, I mean, because if you
Speaker 3: can't articulate your philosophy, if you can't articulate, you know,
Speaker 3: like why you're doing what you're doing your core values,
Speaker 3: then you probably haven't spent enough time, you know, honing
Speaker 3: your craft.
Speaker 2: And so yeah, to me, it was it was really
Speaker 2: valuable in that way.
Speaker 1: Nfortia does a coaching conference every spring and a lot
Speaker 1: of the attendees are people going through the program, coaches
Speaker 1: at lower levels, coaches who are new coaches to guiding
Speaker 1: different sports and doing it at different levels. But it's
Speaker 1: the high school level or college level. You've been through
Speaker 1: this now in Division one level and you mentioned club
Speaker 1: as well and professionally, what advice would you give a
Speaker 1: young coach that getting into the profession and is wide
Speaker 1: eyed and looking around and wants to get to where
Speaker 1: you're at right now? What's the best advice would you
Speaker 1: give to that person?
Speaker 3: Keep an open mind and say, yes, I mean literally,
Speaker 3: fortune favors the bold, and you know, I've had to
Speaker 3: take leaps that I didn't necessarily want to take. You know,
Speaker 3: I've had to bet on myself a handful of times.
Speaker 3: But you know that's what it takes. Like You've got
Speaker 3: to be willing to do stuff that the next person
Speaker 3: who wants the same position isn't willing to do and
Speaker 3: so I think that's been, you know, crucial in my journey.
Speaker 3: And then you know, just like I said saying yes,
Speaker 3: meeting with people, having having an open mind, and you know,
Speaker 3: not being somebody that does the same thing over and
Speaker 3: over because that's what you've always done. I've changed and
Speaker 3: evolved and that's part of my philosophy. I hope I'm
Speaker 3: evolving every single year that I that I do this,
Speaker 3: But it takes effort to do that.
Speaker 2: It's just not going to just happen naturally.
Speaker 3: So yeah, keeping an open mind on you know, skill acquisition, philosophy,
Speaker 3: culture building, leadership, all these different things. I think if
Speaker 3: you keep an open mind and you go for it,
Speaker 3: you're going to land where you want to be as
Speaker 3: long as you have the passion for it as well.
Speaker 1: Final thing, and I really appreciate the time. Let's talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about beach volleyball as a whole. The
Speaker 1: growth of the sports from the AVP Tour to international
Speaker 1: to the Olympics to Division one college volleyball outdoors in
Speaker 1: the sand. The sport has grown, and you talked about
Speaker 1: now the coaching that has evolved in the last decade
Speaker 1: or so, you've seen the growth of the sport. Where
Speaker 1: can it go?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: What do you think is next for the sport of
Speaker 1: beach volleyball.
Speaker 3: Well, there's still plenty of programs to add, right, I mean,
Speaker 3: we're still relatively small, I would say, as far as
Speaker 3: you know sports go, and the number of institutions that
Speaker 3: have programs, So there's still a ways to go as
Speaker 3: far as you know schools adopting the sport. But you know,
Speaker 3: even through the last few years, which have been financially
Speaker 3: troublesome for a lot of for most schools, we've seen
Speaker 3: growth and so I think it's just going to continue
Speaker 3: to take off. And with that, with the with the
Speaker 3: opportunities provided at n c A, it just only feeds
Speaker 3: opportunities for the juniors. And we're really seeing this model
Speaker 3: of like we're building like a very strong foundation for
Speaker 3: our sport and it's going to eventually. It already is
Speaker 3: and in a lot of ways, but it's eventually going
Speaker 3: to trickle up and funnel towards the top and our
Speaker 3: in our professional tour. I think our our professional Tour,
Speaker 3: the a VP has a ways to go. It's been
Speaker 3: you know, I don't know if I want to say struggling,
Speaker 3: but it hasn't been as big as we all hope.
Speaker 3: And I think with the interest that we have, you know,
Speaker 3: below it, I think it's going to explode. We're seeing
Speaker 3: our college game and our domestic game become way more international.
Speaker 3: So a lot of international prospects are now playing in
Speaker 3: college because they see the value of our system and
Speaker 3: how we develop athletes and the training that they're getting.
Speaker 3: So it's really become this globalized game at the college level.
Speaker 3: And then you know, we're already seeing it represented at
Speaker 3: the Olympics, but I think, you know in LA you're
Speaker 3: going to see it. You know even more, how many
Speaker 3: of those Olympic athletes in the in the women's game
Speaker 3: went to college in the United States and played in
Speaker 3: the NCAA system.
Speaker 2: And then the other area is the men's game.
Speaker 3: And you know, obviously you know with Title nine, and
Speaker 3: there's some challenges that are still there, and you know,
Speaker 3: I think there there is some growth with the men's
Speaker 3: game at the college level, but hopefully there's more of
Speaker 3: that in the future. But like I said, they have
Speaker 3: some hurdles that are kind of unique to them.
Speaker 1: Well, Derek really appreciate the time enjoyed the conversation. I
Speaker 1: know our listeners did as well. A unique perspective as
Speaker 1: a player coach at the highest level and now starting
Speaker 1: a program from the ground up with its inaugural season
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty seven, A great perspective. Really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us here on the
Speaker 1: Masters and Coaching podcast.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me, Tim, And don't be afraid to
Speaker 3: follow us Instagram. I don't know our Instagram had all handle,
Speaker 3: but find us. We're on there, and come out and
Speaker 3: support us next season.
Speaker 1: All right, there, he goes. Derek Olsen, the head coach
Speaker 1: of the beach volleyball program at the University of San Diego.
Speaker 1: They don't play until twenty twenty seven. He was introduced
Speaker 1: as the new head coach last fall, and he is
Speaker 1: building that program literally brick by brick from the ground up.
Speaker 1: Brand new facilities being worked on, and he's building that
Speaker 1: program with his assistant coaches from scratch. What a journey
Speaker 1: he has embarked on. He's had success at cal at
Speaker 1: the University of Washington, a former player himself on the
Speaker 1: AVP Tour, coach the national team at the Olympics from Morocco,
Speaker 1: a lot of success as a coach and now embarking
Speaker 1: on a new journey starting a program from scratch. Our
Speaker 1: best at him and his coaching staff. No doubt, we'll
Speaker 1: be keeping an eye on what Derek Olsen and the
Speaker 1: USD Beach Volleyball Program do in the years to come.
Speaker 1: You heard him. He was a graduate of the Masters
Speaker 1: in Coaching and Exercise Science program at Concordia University, Irvine.
Speaker 1: Different start times throughout the year. Find one that fits
Speaker 1: your schedule. Find out more about the programs at CUI
Speaker 1: dot edu slash Coaching. You get a one thousand dollars
Speaker 1: scholarship for first time students in the program CUI dot
Speaker 1: edu slash Coaching. Find out more about the program, how
Speaker 1: you can do it online in person, and find out
Speaker 1: when that next start time is to start that next
Speaker 1: part of your career as a coach, administrator, and as
Speaker 1: a leader. Again thanks to Derek Olsen, new Beach Volleyball
Speaker 1: director of their program which starts in twenty twenty seven,
Speaker 1: and he has hit the ground running now at USD.
Speaker 1: Thanks to Derek, Thanks to you for listening watching being
Speaker 1: a part of episode eighty four of the Masters in
Speaker 1: coaching podcast until next time. Tim Kate saying so long, everybody,