WEBVTT - Lauren Carlini 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:07.120 Hi, I'm Tiffney Oshinsky, and this is serving pancakes. Nope, 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:10.680 not a podcast about food. This is a podcast about 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:14.760 volleyball and more to you. A pancake is a fluffy, 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:18.919 syrup drenched breakfast food button volleyball. A pancake is a 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:21.720 high effort move when a player flattens her hand against 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:24.239 the ground to keep the ball in play. And that's 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:27.840 us digging into high efforts that are moving sports forward. 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:30.479 Listen in as I talk with the people making the 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:36.520 biggest impacts on global volleyball and women's sports perspectives, insights, 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:40.080 and behind the scenes stories, all with the side of pancakes. 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:44.000 Today's episode features one of the greatest setters to ever 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:48.040 come out of Wisconsin, Lauren Carlini. Lauren was a four 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:50.720 time All American for the Badgers and was named the 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:54.240 twenty fourteen Big Ten Player of the Year. She's played 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.480 professionally overseas since twenty seventeen and has been on the 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:01.240 US women's national team since graduating college in twenty sixteen, 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:05.560 and this summer she'll be representing Team USA at the 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:06.559 Paris Olympics. 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:09.440 Lauren, thanks so much for having some pancakes with me. 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:11.600 I have a c oh, I'm so excited. 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:13.520 Amazing pancakes here. 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:16.920 I love me a good thick buttermilk. Is this like, 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:19.520 Oh my gosh, I love me some French press coffee. 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:22.160 Too big coffee gal Oh yeah, so like. 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:24.679 That's probably one of my big dreams is to have 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:27.160 a coffee shop one day, no, and then at night 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:28.399 it turns into a wine bar. 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:30.679 So this kind of like one two punch. 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:31.679 Can I be invited? 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:37.720 Yeah? You can. The thing is not a big chef myself, 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:39.200 so I gotta find me in one of those. So 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:42.199 would you need anyone's so interested? Oh girl, you're getting 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:43.160 way ahead of me. I don't know. 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:45.920 Is a super bas at Carlini's Cafe. But then you 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:47.840 gotta do something for the wine part of it too, 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:49.880 like the evening appertito. 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:51.440 Carlini's Cafe in one bar. 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:55.240 There you go. Why yeah, if it ain't broke, don't 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:55.680 fix it. 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:59.360 I love it all right? So I have to start 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:01.040 all the way back at the beginning. 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:02.400 Okay, run it back. 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:04.040 What did you want to be when you grew up 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:05.919 before volleyball was even in the picture. 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:07.360 What was a little arnoining me? 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:09.640 That's that's hard because I feel like since I have 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:13.600 memories I was always in the gym, and so yeah, 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:16.160 I was in the gym from basically when I was 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:17.959 in the womb, came out of the womb, I was 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:20.160 still in the gym. My mom was playing in these 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:23.800 like nightly leagues, and so Monday nights, Wednesday nights, I 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:24.840 was always there. 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:28.360 Just playing against the wall, peppering by myself, just messing 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:28.880 around with the ball. 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:31.080 Before I even knew where what the sport was, and 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:35.160 so that was just my kind of initiator into the sport. 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:38.160 I started at like five six years old, like on 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:41.560 a club team, and so I wish I could say, oh, 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:43.600 I wanted to be this or that, but I think 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:47.040 I really wanted to be a volleyball player from day one. 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:48.760 I had a little Yeah, I had a lot of 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:51.559 respect for first responders with my dad being a firefighter, 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:53.640 though I would never have wanted to go into that 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:57.560 profession myself. So yeah, I probably would say volleyball player. 0:02:57.680 --> 0:02:59.320 So when did you know that you were good. 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:01.919 Out, that you knew that this, oh was going to 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:03.040 be the right thing. 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:04.960 I think it took a little bit because I started 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:05.560 so young. 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:09.160 Everyone that I was playing with was anywhere between like 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:12.200 two and five years older than me, and so I 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:14.760 was a little barrel for a while, and I had 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:17.960 spandex that looked like swim trunks that you know, were 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:21.480 flared out, And so took me a while to kind 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:24.360 of understand the game, figure out what my niche was 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:26.600 and how I was going to play as a player, 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:28.320 and who I was going to become. And so I 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:32.000 finally realized I was getting good. Maybe my thirteen's year, 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:35.160 that is actually when recruiting kind of started back in 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.320 my day, having college coaches be interested and wanting to 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:41.640 go to camps and just kind of transitioning into a 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:44.280 setter role. That was my first year of actually becoming 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:46.680 a setter. I loved being a ballhog in a sense. 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:49.640 So I'm like I get to I get to every single. 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:51.360 Play, I get a part of it. Yeah, I'm in. 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:55.040 And so that helped simmer down, like my control free 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:57.880 becauseide of things. But I think it was, yeah, probably 0:03:57.880 --> 0:03:59.680 when I was thirteen is when I realized, like, this 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:01.120 is this can be something big? 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:03.000 What else are you a control for? You about? 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:05.760 Not that much anymore. I will say I've like simmered 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:08.760 down quite a bit. But being the oldest child. I 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:12.800 would always force my younger siblings into playing school, and 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:15.880 naturally I would be the principal, the teacher. I would 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:17.240 do all the grading and they would have to be 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:18.600 the students that do the homework. 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:20.080 And they didn't like that so. 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:23.960 Much, but I would say, yeah, I've grown out of 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:24.800 that a little bit. 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:26.880 And you know, kind of found what works for me 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:27.479 in that sense. 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:30.640 Well, you could have been a principal or a teacher, maybe, yeah, 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:33.240 you know what, more respect to all the power to 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:35.719 them and dealing with kids, because good for them. 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:36.599 I don't know how. 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:40.760 They did it for myself included, so yeah, more power 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:41.159 to them. 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:41.800 Now. 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:47.360 You started going to Wisconsin for camps at what age. 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:48.840 I was in six or seventh grade. 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:50.960 I don't remember the exact day, but six or seventh 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:53.920 grade when I started getting in contact with the coaching 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:57.800 staff there. And my initial thing was like, WHOA, there's 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:00.000 this girl named Maria Carlini who plays for the back. 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:03.800 This woman has the same last name as us but 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:06.960 has no relation. Like that was a really cool connection 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:09.760 that we had, and so that is what initially got 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:12.839 me going to Wisconsin, the games, the camps. So yeah, 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:14.480 at a really young age just kind of built that 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:16.280 connection not only with the staff but with some of 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:17.160 the players as well. 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:19.840 So you always knew he wanted to go to Wisconsin. 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:21.560 That was the dream I did. 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:22.000 I did. 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:22.840 I'm not gonna lie. 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:25.120 This was also during the glory days of Penn State, 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:26.960 the dynasty era, and so. 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:31.040 Hey, guys, it's me. I wanted to interrupt Lauren's interview 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:34.000 for a quick second to give you some info about 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:37.600 this Penn State dynasty she mentioned so under head coach 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:41.560 Russ Rose, Penn State was an absolute powerhouse back then. 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:45.680 Between twenty and seven and twenty fourteen, the Nitney Allons 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:49.960 won six national titles, including four in a row between 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:53.640 twenty and seven and twenty ten. Wisconsin, a Big ten 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:57.080 rival of Penn State, meanwhile, had yet to win one. 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.560 All Right back to Lauren and why she ultimately chose Wisconsin. 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:04.520 I dabbled a little bit with the idea of wanting 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:07.040 to go to Penn State, and I remember Russ Rose 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:10.839 sending up like a sign ball and a little note saying, 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:11.120 you know. 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:13.520 Like looking forward to your future. Da da da. 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:16.760 But I would say overall, it was Wisconsin from day one. 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:18.640 A lot would have had to have happened to me 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:19.760 for me to not go there. 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:22.720 So you reaching out to the coaches at Wisconsin kind 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:23.159 of reminds me. 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:24.679 So I was supposed to go to Penn State to play. 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:28.080 That was my trajectory in life for a period of time. 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:30.600 And I started going to the Penn State camps when 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:35.240 I was thirteen, and thanks to my dad, we printed 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:39.440 up business cards, oh official official business cards from our printer, 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:41.560 from our EPs on or whatever it was, with the 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:44.320 volleyball and my name and my phone number on it. 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:46.400 And I went up to Russ Rose as a thirteen 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:48.280 year old and gave him my business card. 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:49.480 I bet he got a hoot. 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:52.159 Oh. Well, then my dad when he came to pick 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:54.560 me up, because they do, you know, court coaches and 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:57.040 you get to play in front of everybody. My dad 0:06:57.200 --> 0:07:01.120 saw him and went up to him, and coach was like, business. 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:05.560 Card, memorable, that's all that matters. You're memorable. Yeah. 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:07.800 But yeah, that was my dream to go to Penn State, 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:09.120 just like you to go to Wisconsin. 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:09.480 Yeah. 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:12.360 But then I got into film school and I went 0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:13.880 and we swerved careers. 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:14.840 We swerved careers. 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:17.560 Career, Yeah, but we're here, that's right, and that's all 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:18.400 that matters. That's right. 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:22.000 So I have to ask you. So you're from Aurora, Illinois, Yeah, 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:25.480 near Chicago. A lot of fun Wisconsin? 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:28.360 Yeah, what was it similar? 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:29.320 Different? 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:33.240 I mean, was it yea more cornfields and suburban or 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:35.560 was it? Was it actually like a really good time? 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:37.080 It was great time. Yeah. 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:38.680 I think that was one of the main draws of 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:41.520 me wanting to go to Wisconsin. Obviously going to camps 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:44.119 every year, kind of understanding the dynamic of the team 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:47.160 and what went on outside of court hours. I think 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:48.560 that was a little bit of the draw for me, 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:50.720 was like, hey, I get to go to a school 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:54.840 that has great education, great athletics, and you get to 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:56.520 have a lot of fun off the court, you know, 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:58.360 and enjoy your time while you're up there. 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:00.440 And for me, it was really important to be able 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:01.760 to have my family close. 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:04.320 Enough to where they can come and watch the games, 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:07.080 and if you know, I was feeling homesick whatever, I 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:09.320 could go home pretty easily. So it was two hours 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:11.880 door to door, so it worked out perfect. Really, it 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:15.080 was the best of all worlds where my family was 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:18.200 there for every home match and I was able to 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:20.520 go home when I wanted, and it was only two 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:23.440 hours away, and so I had just the absolute best 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.440 experience at Wisconsin and gosh, I'm just so excited that 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:27.880 I get to call that place home now. 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:30.320 Truly, Well, you just bought a house there, I did, 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:33.720 So what was that like, buying your first house? I mean, yeah, 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:37.719 what was that experience like? And yeah, degrading everything. Oh 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:38.439 it's expensive. 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:41.440 First off, it's a little shock to the system with 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:43.960 the bank account, but it's so fun because it's yours. 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:47.960 And for those of us who have played professionally now 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:51.520 for whatever one, two, three quads, we don't have a home. 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:54.520 We live out of suitcases, and so now being able to. 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:58.440 Call a place my own and buy my own furniture 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:00.400 and kind of decorate how I want to, it's a 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:02.560 really cool, like turning point in my life. 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:04.120 It's slowly but surely coming together. 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:06.560 It's been really fun to just kind of go and 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:09.160 like window shop and try and curate what I want. 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:12.680 But I'm just so looking forward to being there full time. 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:14.920 And yeah, just having a place to go home and 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:15.440 go back to. 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:17.480 Do you have an eye for decorating? No. 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.760 Pinterest has done great pottery barn westdalm Are like my 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:24.320 go tos, I have an idea of what I want 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:27.080 to get at. I will say, again, just very menialist, 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:29.839 natural with some I love all of green, so we're 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:32.160 going for splashes of like olive green and everywhere. 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:35.880 Yeah, Pinterest, it's a real life Pinterest board. 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:37.040 There you go. Exactly. 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:39.920 So when you're playing in Wisconsin, did you know that 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:42.160 you wanted to continue and keep playing? 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:42.880 For sure? 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.120 I will say when you're in college. At least when 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:48.800 you were in college, you really didn't know anything about 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:51.280 professional volleyball playing overseas. 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:53.680 It was just this like unknown world. 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:56.640 I will say, having people like Chrystal Harmado, who I 0:09:56.679 --> 0:09:59.320 reached out to Alicia Glass being able to chat with 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:02.040 them about like, Hey, what can we expect when we 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:03.920 go overseas? What is a good number I should be 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:07.000 shooting for. What are some good countries to be playing in? Culture, 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:09.640 things to be aware of. There's just so much that 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:11.880 you're unaware of. And I think that's why so many 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:14.720 girls after a half season one season overseas are like 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:17.200 this is terrible. I'm done because it is such a 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:19.360 shock to the system. You just don't know what to expect. 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:22.280 And so for me it was I knew I wanted 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:24.120 to play professionally. I knew it was probably going to 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:27.480 be a challenge being overseas for anywhere between six and 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:30.000 eight months of the year, but that was something that 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:32.400 we had to do and we had to sacrifice in 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:34.559 order to be on the national team to try and 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:35.360 become an Olympian. 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:50.720 How does the process work of professionally? How do you 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:51.600 get picked? 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:54.000 So, at least in my experience, it was at the 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:56.640 ABCA Final four, So this is in December. If you're 0:10:56.640 --> 0:10:58.480 graduating in the spring, you have a little bit more 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:00.439 time to kind of figure it out. But if you're 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:03.880 graduating in December, it's like two week process. You're choosing, 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:06.840 you're getting an agent, you're going overseas, and so I 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:08.880 luckily had all spring tick to side. 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:10.559 But step one, get an agent. 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:13.000 I found someone who was in Italy and he's been 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:15.840 great just because he has his boots on the grounds there. 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:19.040 He knows teams owners, a lot of connections, that's what 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:21.320 you're looking for, and so we were kind of just 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:24.240 figuring out, okay, what teams need setters for next season 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:27.520 and ended up starting out in Italy and signing that contract. 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:30.040 I want to say it was in April or May 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:32.400 and so it was fun, like, whoa, I just signed 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:35.920 my big you know, my big girl contract and got 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:38.600 enough money for down payment on my car, which was great. 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:41.440 But that was the first step into like adulthood and 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:44.480 playing overseas and kind of figuring out that world. 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:47.720 So there's a lot of steps that go into it. 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:48.439 Your first year. 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:51.320 You don't realize that you need to bring peanut butter 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:55.240 vanilla extract if you want like good smelling, like laundry beads, 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:58.400 gotta bring those. Like, there's so many little things that 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:00.240 you don't realize. 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:01.000 That you learn. When you get over there. 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:04.880 You're like, wow, I need some jiff immediately, and if 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:06.839 you don't have it, you're going to spend ten dollars 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:08.000 at the grocery store and buy it. 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:10.319 So yeah, there's a lot of learning experiences when you 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:11.360 get over there. But it's cool. 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:13.280 I'm glad to have been able to do that and 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:15.320 experience different cultures and people. 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:17.320 But there's a lot of growing pains in there as well. 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:20.439 How much downtime do you have when you're overseas to. 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.840 Explore Oh too much? That was one of the things 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.439 my first year overseas. I did not realize how much 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:30.400 free time you had. Like literally in college, it's okay, 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:31.960 I have to wake up, I have to go to lyft, 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:35.079 then I have to shower immediately go to class. In between, 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:38.840 I'm doing study hall practice. Your day is timed out 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:40.600 from them second you wake up to the second go 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.559 to bed. Then you get overseas and you're like, huh, 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:46.320 I have to find hobbies and things to pass the time. 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:50.400 That was really difficult to like be completely by myself. 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:52.440 I didn't have any other Americans on my team my 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:55.360 first year, and so it was really being thrown into 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:58.480 full independence and autonomy. So yeah, it was like, Okay, 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:01.240 I guess I'm taking up rating and leering and I'm 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:03.160 going to go outside and enjoy the sun. And I 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:06.080 wish I would have embraced being in that a little 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:07.920 bit more than what I did, because I was literally 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:09.440 living in the vineyards of Florence. 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:12.320 We're better, but at. 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:13.920 The time, it was like, I'm so alone and I 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:16.080 don't have any hobbies that I'm trying to find things 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:18.160 to pass the time that I'm really not enjoying that much. 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:20.480 So it was a tough balance at times. 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:24.280 So I lived lived in Florence for the summer. 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:24.720 Yeah. 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:32.000 Oh, I just remember going to get pizza Gilato, like 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:33.640 any live music I could find. 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:36.360 Yeah, I fell in love with Nyochi Alfredo out there. 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:39.440 They wait Alfredo. Oh yeah. 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:41.280 They didn't like it when I would ask for it, but. 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:43.320 They there's no way they made this for you. 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:44.800 Well it was like a cream sauce. 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:47.040 But okay, I translated it's Alfreda when I came back 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:47.760 to the States. 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:49.559 But uh oh, I loved it. 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:50.000 Yeah. 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:52.160 I think Florence is still one of my favorite city 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:53.880 in the entire world. I'm not sure if you had 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:57.160 the same experience, but there's just like this magical aura 0:13:57.240 --> 0:13:59.640 about it, Like when you're in the city, it's just 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:04.560 it's small and welcoming and inviting, and there's just something 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:05.760 so unique about it. 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:07.800 I loved Florence so much. 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:09.960 Same, I'm right there with you, one of my favorite 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:11.320 cities I've ever visited. 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:13.920 Agreed, Oh beautiful. Do you ever go back? 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:16.560 Let's see, Well, when I was there, that was my 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:19.000 first season. The next season I was in Novara, which 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:22.320 was right outside Milan, Okay, so got to Florence whenever 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:24.640 I could, especially when we played the team there. And 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:26.560 then the third year I was in Parma, which is 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:29.720 like right in the middle of Italy, and was able 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:32.960 to go to Florence I think twice that year. So yeah, 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:34.720 whenever I can, I make it back there. 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:36.880 But I haven't made it back in a couple of 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:40.520 years now, so hopefully so Well. 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.520 You said that you read a lot, So what kind 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:44.320 of books do you do? 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:45.080 You still read a lot? 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:45.680 I do. 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:49.320 I've definitely transitioned. I would say when I was in. 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:52.360 My dark girl era back in Italy, it was more 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:55.800 reading a lot of military books, really into like, yeah, 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:58.640 kind of just World War two special ops, and so 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:01.040 I was reading a lot about that and their mentality 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:03.560 and how they kind of go about things, because what 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:05.960 they do is like the top of the top, right 0:15:06.040 --> 0:15:09.560 in terms of just execution, teamwork, just mental capacity to 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:10.960 handle a lot of different things. 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:12.520 So I really appreciate that. 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:14.280 So I was reading a ton of those, a little 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:17.640 bit of self help, and I would say I've transitioned 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:20.200 away from that now. I'm way more into like the 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:24.240 Colleen Hoover's, the Emily Henry's, like we're reading summer beach 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:27.680 reads and romance, a little more lighter side of things. 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:30.720 So I would say that's my go to right. 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:32.760 Now, All right, do you guys have a book club 0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:33.960 on the team, because I feel like a lot of 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:34.600 you read. 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:36.480 You know, I want to say at one point we 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:39.240 were kind of passing books around whenever we're on trips, 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:41.880 Like whenever we're overseas and we're on a three week trip. 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:43.880 It's like we each bring two books, we read it, 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:45.840 and then we pass it around to each other. So 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:47.960 that's been lovely and something that we've done in the 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:48.760 past couple of years. 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:52.160 All right, yeah, Well, so going back to the US 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:56.080 women's team, now, I know in twenty twenty. 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:59.040 You were one of the women who was not. 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:02.880 Picked for the twelve roster, So what was going through 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:06.680 your mind? Did that make you want to train harder, 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:09.480 did it make you want to stop playing? 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:11.440 What was what was your thought process? 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:13.880 Yeah, I would say a little bit of everything. Right. 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:16.560 So we were in a bubble when we got the announcement, 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:19.080 So that part, I think was honestly the hardest, just 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:22.400 having to we're all in the same hotel, like my 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:25.760 teammates are across the hall, and having to digest all 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:29.680 that information and the reality of it in you know, 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:31.680 twelve hours before we have to decide whether or not 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:33.760 we're going to go to practice the next day, because 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:36.520 we were given the freedom to choose, if you're not 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:40.040 one of the twelve, take a day and you know, 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:42.920 take your time to kind of digest the information, and 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:46.000 so as alternates, we all chose like, hey, we're here 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:46.440 for the team. 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:47.440 This is our priority. 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:49.600 Even though it sucks that we didn't make the roster 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.280 and it's really hard, we're gonna we're here to do 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:54.440 the hard things. And so we decided to go to 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:57.800 practice that day and give everything we could to our teammates, 0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:00.800 and yeah, it was hard. It was It was really 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:02.920 tough to just be like, dang, this is a team 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:05.840 that's going to go represent us in Tokyo. And obviously 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:08.040 they chose the best group they could and they won 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:10.760