Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Tiffney Oshinsky, and this is serving pancakes. Nope,
Speaker 1: not a podcast about food. This is a podcast about
Speaker 1: volleyball and more to you. A pancake is a fluffy,
Speaker 1: syrup drenched breakfast food button volleyball. A pancake is a
Speaker 1: high effort move when a player flattens her hand against
Speaker 1: the ground to keep the ball in play. And that's
Speaker 1: us digging into high efforts that are moving sports forward.
Speaker 1: Listen in as I talk with the people making the
Speaker 1: biggest impacts on global volleyball and women's sports perspectives, insights,
Speaker 1: and behind the scenes stories, all with the side of pancakes.
Speaker 1: Today's episode features one of the greatest setters to ever
Speaker 1: come out of Wisconsin, Lauren Carlini. Lauren was a four
Speaker 1: time All American for the Badgers and was named the
Speaker 1: twenty fourteen Big Ten Player of the Year. She's played
Speaker 1: professionally overseas since twenty seventeen and has been on the
Speaker 1: US women's national team since graduating college in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 1: and this summer she'll be representing Team USA at the
Speaker 1: Paris Olympics.
Speaker 2: Lauren, thanks so much for having some pancakes with me.
Speaker 3: I have a c oh, I'm so excited.
Speaker 2: Amazing pancakes here.
Speaker 4: I love me a good thick buttermilk. Is this like,
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, I love me some French press coffee.
Speaker 3: Too big coffee gal Oh yeah, so like.
Speaker 4: That's probably one of my big dreams is to have
Speaker 4: a coffee shop one day, no, and then at night
Speaker 4: it turns into a wine bar.
Speaker 3: So this kind of like one two punch.
Speaker 2: Can I be invited?
Speaker 3: Yeah? You can. The thing is not a big chef myself,
Speaker 3: so I gotta find me in one of those. So
Speaker 3: would you need anyone's so interested? Oh girl, you're getting
Speaker 3: way ahead of me. I don't know.
Speaker 4: Is a super bas at Carlini's Cafe. But then you
Speaker 4: gotta do something for the wine part of it too,
Speaker 4: like the evening appertito.
Speaker 2: Carlini's Cafe in one bar.
Speaker 3: There you go. Why yeah, if it ain't broke, don't
Speaker 3: fix it.
Speaker 2: I love it all right? So I have to start
Speaker 2: all the way back at the beginning.
Speaker 3: Okay, run it back.
Speaker 1: What did you want to be when you grew up
Speaker 1: before volleyball was even in the picture.
Speaker 2: What was a little arnoining me?
Speaker 4: That's that's hard because I feel like since I have
Speaker 4: memories I was always in the gym, and so yeah,
Speaker 4: I was in the gym from basically when I was
Speaker 4: in the womb, came out of the womb, I was
Speaker 4: still in the gym. My mom was playing in these
Speaker 4: like nightly leagues, and so Monday nights, Wednesday nights, I
Speaker 4: was always there.
Speaker 3: Just playing against the wall, peppering by myself, just messing
Speaker 3: around with the ball.
Speaker 4: Before I even knew where what the sport was, and
Speaker 4: so that was just my kind of initiator into the sport.
Speaker 4: I started at like five six years old, like on
Speaker 4: a club team, and so I wish I could say, oh,
Speaker 4: I wanted to be this or that, but I think
Speaker 4: I really wanted to be a volleyball player from day one.
Speaker 4: I had a little Yeah, I had a lot of
Speaker 4: respect for first responders with my dad being a firefighter,
Speaker 4: though I would never have wanted to go into that
Speaker 4: profession myself. So yeah, I probably would say volleyball player.
Speaker 3: So when did you know that you were good.
Speaker 2: Out, that you knew that this, oh was going to
Speaker 2: be the right thing.
Speaker 3: I think it took a little bit because I started
Speaker 3: so young.
Speaker 4: Everyone that I was playing with was anywhere between like
Speaker 4: two and five years older than me, and so I
Speaker 4: was a little barrel for a while, and I had
Speaker 4: spandex that looked like swim trunks that you know, were
Speaker 4: flared out, And so took me a while to kind
Speaker 4: of understand the game, figure out what my niche was
Speaker 4: and how I was going to play as a player,
Speaker 4: and who I was going to become. And so I
Speaker 4: finally realized I was getting good. Maybe my thirteen's year,
Speaker 4: that is actually when recruiting kind of started back in
Speaker 4: my day, having college coaches be interested and wanting to
Speaker 4: go to camps and just kind of transitioning into a
Speaker 4: setter role. That was my first year of actually becoming
Speaker 4: a setter. I loved being a ballhog in a sense.
Speaker 4: So I'm like I get to I get to every single.
Speaker 3: Play, I get a part of it. Yeah, I'm in.
Speaker 4: And so that helped simmer down, like my control free
Speaker 4: becauseide of things. But I think it was, yeah, probably
Speaker 4: when I was thirteen is when I realized, like, this
Speaker 4: is this can be something big?
Speaker 2: What else are you a control for? You about?
Speaker 4: Not that much anymore. I will say I've like simmered
Speaker 4: down quite a bit. But being the oldest child. I
Speaker 4: would always force my younger siblings into playing school, and
Speaker 4: naturally I would be the principal, the teacher. I would
Speaker 4: do all the grading and they would have to be
Speaker 4: the students that do the homework.
Speaker 3: And they didn't like that so.
Speaker 4: Much, but I would say, yeah, I've grown out of
Speaker 4: that a little bit.
Speaker 3: And you know, kind of found what works for me
Speaker 3: in that sense.
Speaker 4: Well, you could have been a principal or a teacher, maybe, yeah,
Speaker 4: you know what, more respect to all the power to
Speaker 4: them and dealing with kids, because good for them.
Speaker 3: I don't know how.
Speaker 4: They did it for myself included, so yeah, more power
Speaker 4: to them.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: You started going to Wisconsin for camps at what age.
Speaker 3: I was in six or seventh grade.
Speaker 4: I don't remember the exact day, but six or seventh
Speaker 4: grade when I started getting in contact with the coaching
Speaker 4: staff there. And my initial thing was like, WHOA, there's
Speaker 4: this girl named Maria Carlini who plays for the back.
Speaker 4: This woman has the same last name as us but
Speaker 4: has no relation. Like that was a really cool connection
Speaker 4: that we had, and so that is what initially got
Speaker 4: me going to Wisconsin, the games, the camps. So yeah,
Speaker 4: at a really young age just kind of built that
Speaker 4: connection not only with the staff but with some of
Speaker 4: the players as well.
Speaker 2: So you always knew he wanted to go to Wisconsin.
Speaker 3: That was the dream I did.
Speaker 2: I did.
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 4: This was also during the glory days of Penn State,
Speaker 4: the dynasty era, and so.
Speaker 1: Hey, guys, it's me. I wanted to interrupt Lauren's interview
Speaker 1: for a quick second to give you some info about
Speaker 1: this Penn State dynasty she mentioned so under head coach
Speaker 1: Russ Rose, Penn State was an absolute powerhouse back then.
Speaker 1: Between twenty and seven and twenty fourteen, the Nitney Allons
Speaker 1: won six national titles, including four in a row between
Speaker 1: twenty and seven and twenty ten. Wisconsin, a Big ten
Speaker 1: rival of Penn State, meanwhile, had yet to win one.
Speaker 1: All Right back to Lauren and why she ultimately chose Wisconsin.
Speaker 4: I dabbled a little bit with the idea of wanting
Speaker 4: to go to Penn State, and I remember Russ Rose
Speaker 4: sending up like a sign ball and a little note saying,
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 3: Like looking forward to your future. Da da da.
Speaker 4: But I would say overall, it was Wisconsin from day one.
Speaker 4: A lot would have had to have happened to me
Speaker 4: for me to not go there.
Speaker 1: So you reaching out to the coaches at Wisconsin kind
Speaker 1: of reminds me.
Speaker 2: So I was supposed to go to Penn State to play.
Speaker 2: That was my trajectory in life for a period of time.
Speaker 1: And I started going to the Penn State camps when
Speaker 1: I was thirteen, and thanks to my dad, we printed
Speaker 1: up business cards, oh official official business cards from our printer,
Speaker 1: from our EPs on or whatever it was, with the
Speaker 1: volleyball and my name and my phone number on it.
Speaker 1: And I went up to Russ Rose as a thirteen
Speaker 1: year old and gave him my business card.
Speaker 3: I bet he got a hoot.
Speaker 1: Oh. Well, then my dad when he came to pick
Speaker 1: me up, because they do, you know, court coaches and
Speaker 1: you get to play in front of everybody. My dad
Speaker 1: saw him and went up to him, and coach was like, business.
Speaker 3: Card, memorable, that's all that matters. You're memorable. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that was my dream to go to Penn State,
Speaker 1: just like you to go to Wisconsin.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: But then I got into film school and I went
Speaker 3: and we swerved careers.
Speaker 2: We swerved careers.
Speaker 3: Career, Yeah, but we're here, that's right, and that's all
Speaker 3: that matters. That's right.
Speaker 2: So I have to ask you. So you're from Aurora, Illinois, Yeah,
Speaker 2: near Chicago. A lot of fun Wisconsin?
Speaker 3: Yeah, what was it similar?
Speaker 2: Different?
Speaker 1: I mean, was it yea more cornfields and suburban or
Speaker 1: was it? Was it actually like a really good time?
Speaker 3: It was great time. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think that was one of the main draws of
Speaker 4: me wanting to go to Wisconsin. Obviously going to camps
Speaker 4: every year, kind of understanding the dynamic of the team
Speaker 4: and what went on outside of court hours. I think
Speaker 4: that was a little bit of the draw for me,
Speaker 4: was like, hey, I get to go to a school
Speaker 4: that has great education, great athletics, and you get to
Speaker 4: have a lot of fun off the court, you know,
Speaker 4: and enjoy your time while you're up there.
Speaker 3: And for me, it was really important to be able
Speaker 3: to have my family close.
Speaker 4: Enough to where they can come and watch the games,
Speaker 4: and if you know, I was feeling homesick whatever, I
Speaker 4: could go home pretty easily. So it was two hours
Speaker 4: door to door, so it worked out perfect. Really, it
Speaker 4: was the best of all worlds where my family was
Speaker 4: there for every home match and I was able to
Speaker 4: go home when I wanted, and it was only two
Speaker 4: hours away, and so I had just the absolute best
Speaker 4: experience at Wisconsin and gosh, I'm just so excited that
Speaker 4: I get to call that place home now.
Speaker 1: Truly, Well, you just bought a house there, I did,
Speaker 1: So what was that like, buying your first house? I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: what was that experience like? And yeah, degrading everything. Oh
Speaker 1: it's expensive.
Speaker 4: First off, it's a little shock to the system with
Speaker 4: the bank account, but it's so fun because it's yours.
Speaker 4: And for those of us who have played professionally now
Speaker 4: for whatever one, two, three quads, we don't have a home.
Speaker 3: We live out of suitcases, and so now being able to.
Speaker 4: Call a place my own and buy my own furniture
Speaker 4: and kind of decorate how I want to, it's a
Speaker 4: really cool, like turning point in my life.
Speaker 3: It's slowly but surely coming together.
Speaker 4: It's been really fun to just kind of go and
Speaker 4: like window shop and try and curate what I want.
Speaker 4: But I'm just so looking forward to being there full time.
Speaker 4: And yeah, just having a place to go home and
Speaker 4: go back to.
Speaker 2: Do you have an eye for decorating? No.
Speaker 4: Pinterest has done great pottery barn westdalm Are like my
Speaker 4: go tos, I have an idea of what I want
Speaker 4: to get at. I will say, again, just very menialist,
Speaker 4: natural with some I love all of green, so we're
Speaker 4: going for splashes of like olive green and everywhere.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Pinterest, it's a real life Pinterest board.
Speaker 3: There you go. Exactly.
Speaker 1: So when you're playing in Wisconsin, did you know that
Speaker 1: you wanted to continue and keep playing?
Speaker 3: For sure?
Speaker 4: I will say when you're in college. At least when
Speaker 4: you were in college, you really didn't know anything about
Speaker 4: professional volleyball playing overseas.
Speaker 3: It was just this like unknown world.
Speaker 4: I will say, having people like Chrystal Harmado, who I
Speaker 4: reached out to Alicia Glass being able to chat with
Speaker 4: them about like, Hey, what can we expect when we
Speaker 4: go overseas? What is a good number I should be
Speaker 4: shooting for. What are some good countries to be playing in? Culture,
Speaker 4: things to be aware of. There's just so much that
Speaker 4: you're unaware of. And I think that's why so many
Speaker 4: girls after a half season one season overseas are like
Speaker 4: this is terrible. I'm done because it is such a
Speaker 4: shock to the system. You just don't know what to expect.
Speaker 4: And so for me it was I knew I wanted
Speaker 4: to play professionally. I knew it was probably going to
Speaker 4: be a challenge being overseas for anywhere between six and
Speaker 4: eight months of the year, but that was something that
Speaker 4: we had to do and we had to sacrifice in
Speaker 4: order to be on the national team to try and
Speaker 4: become an Olympian.
Speaker 2: How does the process work of professionally? How do you
Speaker 2: get picked?
Speaker 4: So, at least in my experience, it was at the
Speaker 4: ABCA Final four, So this is in December. If you're
Speaker 4: graduating in the spring, you have a little bit more
Speaker 4: time to kind of figure it out. But if you're
Speaker 4: graduating in December, it's like two week process. You're choosing,
Speaker 4: you're getting an agent, you're going overseas, and so I
Speaker 4: luckily had all spring tick to side.
Speaker 3: But step one, get an agent.
Speaker 4: I found someone who was in Italy and he's been
Speaker 4: great just because he has his boots on the grounds there.
Speaker 4: He knows teams owners, a lot of connections, that's what
Speaker 4: you're looking for, and so we were kind of just
Speaker 4: figuring out, okay, what teams need setters for next season
Speaker 4: and ended up starting out in Italy and signing that contract.
Speaker 4: I want to say it was in April or May
Speaker 4: and so it was fun, like, whoa, I just signed
Speaker 4: my big you know, my big girl contract and got
Speaker 4: enough money for down payment on my car, which was great.
Speaker 4: But that was the first step into like adulthood and
Speaker 4: playing overseas and kind of figuring out that world.
Speaker 3: So there's a lot of steps that go into it.
Speaker 3: Your first year.
Speaker 4: You don't realize that you need to bring peanut butter
Speaker 4: vanilla extract if you want like good smelling, like laundry beads,
Speaker 4: gotta bring those. Like, there's so many little things that
Speaker 4: you don't realize.
Speaker 3: That you learn. When you get over there.
Speaker 4: You're like, wow, I need some jiff immediately, and if
Speaker 4: you don't have it, you're going to spend ten dollars
Speaker 4: at the grocery store and buy it.
Speaker 3: So yeah, there's a lot of learning experiences when you
Speaker 3: get over there. But it's cool.
Speaker 4: I'm glad to have been able to do that and
Speaker 4: experience different cultures and people.
Speaker 3: But there's a lot of growing pains in there as well.
Speaker 2: How much downtime do you have when you're overseas to.
Speaker 4: Explore Oh too much? That was one of the things
Speaker 4: my first year overseas. I did not realize how much
Speaker 4: free time you had. Like literally in college, it's okay,
Speaker 4: I have to wake up, I have to go to lyft,
Speaker 4: then I have to shower immediately go to class. In between,
Speaker 4: I'm doing study hall practice. Your day is timed out
Speaker 4: from them second you wake up to the second go
Speaker 4: to bed. Then you get overseas and you're like, huh,
Speaker 4: I have to find hobbies and things to pass the time.
Speaker 4: That was really difficult to like be completely by myself.
Speaker 4: I didn't have any other Americans on my team my
Speaker 4: first year, and so it was really being thrown into
Speaker 4: full independence and autonomy. So yeah, it was like, Okay,
Speaker 4: I guess I'm taking up rating and leering and I'm
Speaker 4: going to go outside and enjoy the sun. And I
Speaker 4: wish I would have embraced being in that a little
Speaker 4: bit more than what I did, because I was literally
Speaker 4: living in the vineyards of Florence.
Speaker 3: We're better, but at.
Speaker 4: The time, it was like, I'm so alone and I
Speaker 4: don't have any hobbies that I'm trying to find things
Speaker 4: to pass the time that I'm really not enjoying that much.
Speaker 3: So it was a tough balance at times.
Speaker 2: So I lived lived in Florence for the summer.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Oh, I just remember going to get pizza Gilato, like
Speaker 1: any live music I could find.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I fell in love with Nyochi Alfredo out there.
Speaker 3: They wait Alfredo. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2: They didn't like it when I would ask for it, but.
Speaker 3: They there's no way they made this for you.
Speaker 2: Well it was like a cream sauce.
Speaker 1: But okay, I translated it's Alfreda when I came back
Speaker 1: to the States.
Speaker 2: But uh oh, I loved it.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think Florence is still one of my favorite city
Speaker 4: in the entire world. I'm not sure if you had
Speaker 4: the same experience, but there's just like this magical aura
Speaker 4: about it, Like when you're in the city, it's just
Speaker 4: it's small and welcoming and inviting, and there's just something
Speaker 4: so unique about it.
Speaker 3: I loved Florence so much.
Speaker 1: Same, I'm right there with you, one of my favorite
Speaker 1: cities I've ever visited.
Speaker 3: Agreed, Oh beautiful. Do you ever go back?
Speaker 4: Let's see, Well, when I was there, that was my
Speaker 4: first season. The next season I was in Novara, which
Speaker 4: was right outside Milan, Okay, so got to Florence whenever
Speaker 4: I could, especially when we played the team there. And
Speaker 4: then the third year I was in Parma, which is
Speaker 4: like right in the middle of Italy, and was able
Speaker 4: to go to Florence I think twice that year. So yeah,
Speaker 4: whenever I can, I make it back there.
Speaker 3: But I haven't made it back in a couple of
Speaker 3: years now, so hopefully so Well.
Speaker 2: You said that you read a lot, So what kind
Speaker 2: of books do you do?
Speaker 3: You still read a lot?
Speaker 1: I do.
Speaker 3: I've definitely transitioned. I would say when I was in.
Speaker 4: My dark girl era back in Italy, it was more
Speaker 4: reading a lot of military books, really into like, yeah,
Speaker 4: kind of just World War two special ops, and so
Speaker 4: I was reading a lot about that and their mentality
Speaker 4: and how they kind of go about things, because what
Speaker 4: they do is like the top of the top, right
Speaker 4: in terms of just execution, teamwork, just mental capacity to
Speaker 4: handle a lot of different things.
Speaker 3: So I really appreciate that.
Speaker 4: So I was reading a ton of those, a little
Speaker 4: bit of self help, and I would say I've transitioned
Speaker 4: away from that now. I'm way more into like the
Speaker 4: Colleen Hoover's, the Emily Henry's, like we're reading summer beach
Speaker 4: reads and romance, a little more lighter side of things.
Speaker 3: So I would say that's my go to right.
Speaker 1: Now, All right, do you guys have a book club
Speaker 1: on the team, because I feel like a lot of
Speaker 1: you read.
Speaker 4: You know, I want to say at one point we
Speaker 4: were kind of passing books around whenever we're on trips,
Speaker 4: Like whenever we're overseas and we're on a three week trip.
Speaker 4: It's like we each bring two books, we read it,
Speaker 4: and then we pass it around to each other. So
Speaker 4: that's been lovely and something that we've done in the
Speaker 4: past couple of years.
Speaker 1: All right, yeah, Well, so going back to the US
Speaker 1: women's team, now, I know in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: You were one of the women who was not.
Speaker 1: Picked for the twelve roster, So what was going through
Speaker 1: your mind? Did that make you want to train harder,
Speaker 1: did it make you want to stop playing?
Speaker 2: What was what was your thought process?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say a little bit of everything. Right.
Speaker 4: So we were in a bubble when we got the announcement,
Speaker 4: So that part, I think was honestly the hardest, just
Speaker 4: having to we're all in the same hotel, like my
Speaker 4: teammates are across the hall, and having to digest all
Speaker 4: that information and the reality of it in you know,
Speaker 4: twelve hours before we have to decide whether or not
Speaker 4: we're going to go to practice the next day, because
Speaker 4: we were given the freedom to choose, if you're not
Speaker 4: one of the twelve, take a day and you know,
Speaker 4: take your time to kind of digest the information, and
Speaker 4: so as alternates, we all chose like, hey, we're here
Speaker 4: for the team.
Speaker 3: This is our priority.
Speaker 4: Even though it sucks that we didn't make the roster
Speaker 4: and it's really hard, we're gonna we're here to do
Speaker 4: the hard things. And so we decided to go to
Speaker 4: practice that day and give everything we could to our teammates,
Speaker 4: and yeah, it was hard. It was It was really
Speaker 4: tough to just be like, dang, this is a team
Speaker 4: that's going to go represent us in Tokyo. And obviously
Speaker 4: they chose the best group they could and they won
Speaker 4: gold and they've done incredible things for this program and
Speaker 4: so seeing that result at the end of it made
Speaker 4: it worth it, but didn't make it easier, of course not.
Speaker 4: And so after that went home for I think we
Speaker 4: got one week, two weeks for you maybe, and was
Speaker 4: just with friends and family and got back in the gym,
Speaker 4: and at that point it was like, Okay, I'm just
Speaker 4: going to be the best teammate I can possibly be like,
Speaker 4: we are here to again do the hard things, and
Speaker 4: so practicing all the way up until they left for Tokyo.
Speaker 3: It did take me a little bit.
Speaker 4: I went to Turkey after that for my professional team,
Speaker 4: and it was hard to be like, all right, it's
Speaker 4: time to flip the switch, and we're looking forward to
Speaker 4: the next squad, We're looking forward to what's next. So
Speaker 4: I would say it took me a little bit to
Speaker 4: kind of get back on track, But within a few
Speaker 4: weeks I was like, all right, we're going to get better.
Speaker 3: We're going to make sure that this doesn't happen again.
Speaker 2: What advice do you have two girls women?
Speaker 1: Yeah, any players who hit that point where they want
Speaker 1: to make this team, they you know, they're good enough
Speaker 1: to make this team, and then obviously not everyone can
Speaker 1: make it, right, So what advice do you have for
Speaker 1: anyone who's in that spot.
Speaker 4: I think one is before the decision is even made,
Speaker 4: just give yourself the best chance possible. Even now as
Speaker 4: we're going through this process of being hopefully on the
Speaker 4: roster of twelve for Paris, it's am I doing everything
Speaker 4: I possibly can so that at the end of the day, I.
Speaker 3: Don't have any regrets.
Speaker 4: So that's the first thing, is like going one hundred
Speaker 4: and ten percent in every single day. The second thing
Speaker 4: is just being a really good teammate and knowing that, like, hey,
Speaker 4: a roster is going to be chosen. There is basically
Speaker 4: a decision to be made, and it doesn't take away
Speaker 4: anything from you as a player, as a person. The
Speaker 4: roster just didn't go your way this time, and so
Speaker 4: there's this balance of acceptance but also like making it
Speaker 4: as hard as you can on the coaches or the staff,
Speaker 4: whoever it may be, to make that decision. And then
Speaker 4: I think the biggest thing for me, especially now being
Speaker 4: at the end of this journey, is like, again, I
Speaker 4: don't want any regrets. I don't want anything saying oh
Speaker 4: I left this on the table. So yeah, give your role,
Speaker 4: be the best teammate you can possibly be. Support others
Speaker 4: because there's no point in bringing other people down. People
Speaker 4: are going to see that it's being very inauthentic, and
Speaker 4: so yeah, just be the best you can and make
Speaker 4: the decision as hard as possible for the staff.
Speaker 2: For the final twelve is it just the coaches decidning.
Speaker 3: As far as I know now that the case was different.
Speaker 3: In Tokyo.
Speaker 4: It was a staff and us girls also voted, so
Speaker 4: it was kind of a team wide.
Speaker 3: I think it was just where our team was at.
Speaker 4: We hadn't played together in a year because of COVID,
Speaker 4: and so it was more about like vibes and feelings
Speaker 4: and who was the best fit and who would.
Speaker 3: You want to go to war with next to you.
Speaker 4: So again I'm not sure if that's the case this
Speaker 4: time around, but either way, like I know our team,
Speaker 4: we've set ourselves up well to make that decision if
Speaker 4: it comes to it.
Speaker 2: You girls seem very close.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I looked at your instagrams and everything, and it's like
Speaker 1: a lot of awesome pictures in different locations, girls visiting
Speaker 1: each other in different cities, birthday party, celebration stuff like that.
Speaker 2: Do you just find that.
Speaker 1: Everyone's easy to connect with because you've been on this
Speaker 1: incredible journey together or is it also just about who
Speaker 1: you all are as a person?
Speaker 4: First off, I think we have the best girls on
Speaker 4: the entire planet. Like literally I'm having conversations with people
Speaker 4: in the weight room or just when we're at lunch
Speaker 4: or dinner, whatever it may be, and I'm like, these
Speaker 4: girls are incredible, not only humans, but athletes and just
Speaker 4: people like who they are to their core. And I
Speaker 4: think that is a major key as to why we
Speaker 4: are so successful and why we are so close is
Speaker 4: because we're all friends. And we were actually talking about
Speaker 4: this the other day, where it's like, we're so lucky
Speaker 4: to be in a team setting and a team sport
Speaker 4: where you have friends built in, Like you don't need
Speaker 4: to go into the community and say like, oh, I'm
Speaker 4: gonna go this group and see this Facebook friend place
Speaker 4: and no, like, we are each other's people and there's
Speaker 4: a lot of power in that. And so between being
Speaker 4: just genuine great humans having a built in sense of
Speaker 4: friendship on a team, and then us being on this
Speaker 4: journey now for almost eight years, the majority of us
Speaker 4: we've gone through a lot of hard things. We've all
Speaker 4: played overseas for many years and understand the dynamics of
Speaker 4: being over there and how valuable it is to meet
Speaker 4: up with each other in East Tumbul or Italy wherever
Speaker 4: it may be, even if it's just to speak English.
Speaker 3: For a couple hours.
Speaker 4: There is so many of these like nuances that people
Speaker 4: outside of our bubble are circle just can't comprehend or understand.
Speaker 4: And so there's great friendships that are going to last
Speaker 4: a lifetime. And it's not only because we're doing great
Speaker 4: things on the court, but because we truly enjoy each
Speaker 4: other's company off the court as well.
Speaker 1: And a bunch of you are now going to be
Speaker 1: playing with each other. Yeah for love, I mean Madison,
Speaker 1: o Maha for some of the girls. You know, So
Speaker 1: what does it feel like to know that you're now
Speaker 1: playing together again but in the States and families close by.
Speaker 4: It's so fun now because we get to see each
Speaker 4: other literally every single weekend on our home turfs with
Speaker 4: all of our friends and family.
Speaker 3: Until like that alone, I'm like.
Speaker 4: Say less, I was, I was in because it's like
Speaker 4: I get to play with these people and play against
Speaker 4: these people, which is like it's college all over again,
Speaker 4: but now at an even higher level of volleyball, which
Speaker 4: is insane to think about.
Speaker 3: And so yeah, I'm just so.
Speaker 4: Pumped to be able to be building this from the
Speaker 4: ground up with these incredible women.
Speaker 1: And yep, another fun fact coming your way. I just
Speaker 1: wanted to quickly give you the lay of the land
Speaker 1: about how League one Volleyball will work in its inaugural season.
Speaker 1: There are six teams located in Atlanta, Austin, Houston, Madison, Omaha,
Speaker 1: and Salt Lake City, and nine of the twelve women
Speaker 1: playing on TMOSA at the Paris Olympics are playing in
Speaker 1: the league. Preseason starts in November this year, with the
Speaker 1: regular season beginning in January twenty twenty five. So get excited,
Speaker 1: all right. Now back to Lauren.
Speaker 3: I think we're going about things the right way.
Speaker 4: We have the right people on board, and so I'm
Speaker 4: just so excited to see what it brings and then
Speaker 4: the results of all this.
Speaker 2: Correct me if I'm wrong. But were you considering retiring
Speaker 2: from volleyball at some point?
Speaker 3: What did you want to do?
Speaker 2: Like, what were you ready to do or thought you
Speaker 2: were ready to do?
Speaker 4: Who knows, I would say honestly, I didn't know. I
Speaker 4: think a couple of years ago, before professional volleyball talks
Speaker 4: were in the question for the United States, I kind
Speaker 4: of knew after two quads I was going to be
Speaker 4: done with national team, and so that also means done professionally,
Speaker 4: Like I wouldn't want to just play overseas just to
Speaker 4: play overseas, and so it was kind of like this
Speaker 4: great Abyss that I was looking.
Speaker 3: Into, and I had no idea what was on the
Speaker 3: other side of it.
Speaker 4: So it was kind of just incredible timing and luck
Speaker 4: that Love came into the picture and was like, hey,
Speaker 4: right after Paris, we're launching this league.
Speaker 3: And I was like, my.
Speaker 4: Body steel feels pretty good and the mind is feeling
Speaker 4: pretty good too. And so when they said a possible
Speaker 4: team is going to be a Madison, I was like,
Speaker 4: where do I sign? It was just right time, right place,
Speaker 4: right people. It was kind of yeah, this like synergy
Speaker 4: of things happening. I like don't even like to think
Speaker 4: about what would have happened if I didn't. Maybe I
Speaker 4: would have tried to get into coaching. That's kind of
Speaker 4: been like peaking my interest as.
Speaker 3: Of late at the college level. At least for now.
Speaker 3: It's let's play.
Speaker 4: Let's see what this league can do, Let's see what
Speaker 4: this team has built, this program is built, and yeah,
Speaker 4: let's let's.
Speaker 3: Give it a run.
Speaker 2: So you're gonna be back in Madison.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I have to ask you this, because you're
Speaker 1: from Aurora, Illinois.
Speaker 2: Are you a Bears fan or a Packers fan?
Speaker 3: Oh God, I gotta go on record now.
Speaker 2: Because I feel like that's you know, it's a.
Speaker 3: H Listen, well, listen.
Speaker 4: If we're being honest, the Packers are way better, okay,
Speaker 4: but I cannot say, can't say their slogan.
Speaker 3: I just cannot say. I'm sorry Packers fans.
Speaker 4: I'm unfortunately a Bears fan for now until they're good.
Speaker 4: I don't think they've been good since like two thousand
Speaker 4: and five. They made one good run back in the day,
Speaker 4: and since then it's just been sad. But my dad, Tony,
Speaker 4: he's still wearing his Bear stuff every single Sunday just
Speaker 4: to lose. Since I'm from Chicago, I have to say
Speaker 4: I'm a Bears fan, all right, enough, I'm more of
Speaker 4: a player's girl.
Speaker 3: I follow people that I like who played at Wisconsin.
Speaker 4: We became friends, so now they're you know, in the
Speaker 4: Steelers or Texans, whatever it may be.
Speaker 3: So we're your Steelers gal. She's a Pittsburgh gal, all right.
Speaker 1: I had to ask because I'm like that that's you know,
Speaker 1: those are warring factions, right.
Speaker 3: Oh, that's for sure, that's for sure.
Speaker 4: Yeah, But I will say, sorry, Spotted Cow is the best,
Speaker 4: like Wisconsin beers where it's at really oh yeah, the
Speaker 4: brewery scene is popping off up there. Yeah, Milwaukee brewers.
Speaker 1: I know a bunch of beer in like some places,
Speaker 1: but at the bigger names less than like ye smaller
Speaker 1: craft beers that are popping up around that probably make
Speaker 1: for better beer.
Speaker 3: Exactly.
Speaker 4: You got to go those little, local, small businesses exactly.
Speaker 1: So I want to ask you a question that I
Speaker 1: don't know if you'll you're prepared to answer, But let's
Speaker 1: see what you got. What if something that no one
Speaker 1: really knows about you that you want people to know
Speaker 1: about you?
Speaker 4: So I am I love dogs so much? Okay, I
Speaker 4: really do. So I'm I just started a rover, like
Speaker 4: literally two weeks ago because I want to go walk dogs,
Speaker 4: like I'm missing my three dogs from home, and so
Speaker 4: I'm thinking about starting a dog walking business in Madison
Speaker 4: when I get there. Just putting that out there for
Speaker 4: anyone's dogs, you need to.
Speaker 3: Be walked or watched or fed or played with. So yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm a big dog lover.
Speaker 4: Joined a couple of animal shelters as well, just to
Speaker 4: like go and help out and volunteer not.
Speaker 3: Related to dogs, because I feel like that's such an
Speaker 3: easy thing, right.
Speaker 4: Everyone loves dogs unless you're a cat person, your cat person,
Speaker 4: I am. Most of our team are cat people, really yeah,
Speaker 4: because they're easy to take overseas that you just take
Speaker 4: them in their little carrier and gt doo. But I
Speaker 4: don't know when I'm gonna get a dog, hopefully someone
Speaker 4: in the new here something else.
Speaker 2: Do you have time?
Speaker 1: Yes, type of dog, but you know to are you
Speaker 1: kind of adopting, you know, just bringing the love of
Speaker 1: whoever needs love?
Speaker 4: I do like, okay, this is so again, I'm very
Speaker 4: basic Golden retrievers, right, I do love like burna doodles,
Speaker 4: but I think they have a lot of health problems.
Speaker 4: My dogs now, they're called Walruses. They are shar Pay
Speaker 4: mixes with either basset hound or beagle, so they're a
Speaker 4: little scrunchy guys.
Speaker 3: They're so cute though.
Speaker 4: I think you got to let the dogs speak to you, right,
Speaker 4: You got to make eye contact and like feel their energy.
Speaker 3: That sounds so weird.
Speaker 2: But no, though, because dogs me, it's a personality thing.
Speaker 3: Totally, yeah, totally other than dogs.
Speaker 4: No, I'm just a really like I'm a really big foodie,
Speaker 4: I will say, And so I don't know. I would
Speaker 4: totally love to start my own business one day. Or
Speaker 4: be like co founder of you know, cafe, wine bar,
Speaker 4: whatever it may be attached to a yoga studio. Like
Speaker 4: I am a little bit more than volleyball, A little bit.
Speaker 2: I like to mean, I like means you're five, right,
Speaker 2: So I am.
Speaker 3: Vulleyble No, but it's yeah.
Speaker 4: I love to eat and drink, explore new places, and
Speaker 4: I love to do yoga. I love cross training with yoga.
Speaker 4: I think it's a really great balance just to stay limber.
Speaker 4: You probably want something a little more deep there, But
Speaker 4: that's all I got for you.
Speaker 2: Emptyep because I love that. Yeah, because I love food too,
Speaker 2: I'm just do you cook?
Speaker 3: I do? I would say, I'm like the twenty minute
Speaker 3: sheep pan queen.
Speaker 2: Oh, so like what's your specialty?
Speaker 4: Oh, usually it's salmon with some type of like I
Speaker 4: like sweet potatoes especially, and then I'll throw a couple
Speaker 4: of vegetables on there, because you gotta balance. I also
Speaker 4: when I was in Italy, I mean pasta and just
Speaker 4: the quality of ingredients there are so good, and so
Speaker 4: I would just make different pastas like every other night.
Speaker 3: But salmon is a really big one for me. Love
Speaker 3: my fish.
Speaker 1: You and my husband literally make the same meal he
Speaker 1: makes either chicken or salmon and steat potatoes with a sound.
Speaker 3: Oh mister health right, yeah, we love that.
Speaker 2: Not me.
Speaker 3: You're like, where's my doughnuts for dessert?
Speaker 4: Pancakes, speaking of I know now that they're cold, that's fine.
Speaker 2: Pancakes are good at all temperatures.
Speaker 4: I'd love me a good like breakfast for dinner. Pancakes, waffles.
Speaker 4: People really get into, Like, what is it the chicken
Speaker 4: and waffles. That's the one thing I can get into. Eh,
Speaker 4: it's like a Southern thing, I think. Yeah, yeah, I'm
Speaker 4: from the North.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm from Northeast, so I like, I like just
Speaker 1: like my bread products with butter.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Literally I remember when Okay it's still the case now.
Speaker 4: If you walked into my dad's house, but there's like
Speaker 4: one of my friends Sarah, she would walk into the
Speaker 4: house and she'd be like, Oh, there's the carb because
Speaker 4: it was just bread, just white bread, rolls. You got
Speaker 4: the hot dogs, hamburger buns, everything, and.
Speaker 3: Yeah, big carb household. So going back to volleyball, Yeah,
Speaker 3: what do.
Speaker 1: You want your legacy to be, especially now that you're
Speaker 1: able to play here in the States and FAMI people.
Speaker 3: I think for me, it was.
Speaker 4: I guess it is about growing the game, especially in
Speaker 4: Wisconsin in Madison.
Speaker 3: I think these fans deserve it.
Speaker 4: They've been with us since day one and it's just
Speaker 4: only grown in terms of popularity and attendance and buy
Speaker 4: in from them especially.
Speaker 1: All right, last fun fact of the episode, Wisconsin has
Speaker 1: definitely led the way when it comes to popularity in
Speaker 1: women's volleyball. Back in twenty twenty two, the Badger set
Speaker 1: the record for the highest attended women's sporting event in
Speaker 1: state history and the largest indoor crowd for an NCAA
Speaker 1: volleyball match all time, with sixteen thousand people in attendance.
Speaker 1: They then broke those records in twenty twenty three when
Speaker 1: they had seventeen thousand, thirty seven fans in attendance. Not
Speaker 1: to be outdone, but their rival did outdo them when
Speaker 1: Nebraska set the world record for the largest attendance at
Speaker 1: a women's sporting event in September twenty twenty four with
Speaker 1: over ninety two thousand fans. Lauren and I will get
Speaker 1: more into this in just a minute, but let's get
Speaker 1: back to her excitement of playing again in Wisconsin.
Speaker 4: And so of course starting it on my home grounds.
Speaker 4: Of Madison and growing the game. They're making as big
Speaker 4: as possible, as popular as possible, and expanding that nationally.
Speaker 3: I think we're there. I think it's the right time,
Speaker 3: it's the right place.
Speaker 4: Like I said, the right people are on board, the
Speaker 4: numbers are speaking for themselves that it's time for volleyball
Speaker 4: to take off. And so I want to be a
Speaker 4: part of that. I want to be a spokesperson for love.
Speaker 4: I want to be Yeah, I guess just show that
Speaker 4: passion through my play and how I present myself in
Speaker 4: the community.
Speaker 3: So that is kind of what I want to leave
Speaker 3: behind love that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, speaking of number and how it's clearly growing, Nebraska
Speaker 1: just set the record for most in attendance of a
Speaker 1: female or a women's sporting event, but Wisconsin held that before.
Speaker 4: For volley Oh, we're just like, yeah, we're just like
Speaker 4: going back and forth.
Speaker 3: I love it. I love it, And.
Speaker 4: It's one of these things where you know, John Coke
Speaker 4: and Kelly Stiffield are kind of going back and forth
Speaker 4: and it's great for the game, Like you couldn't ask
Speaker 4: for anything more in terms of two figureheads who are like, hey,
Speaker 4: how can we make this even bigger? How can we
Speaker 4: make this even better, and it's healthy competition, and it's
Speaker 4: drawing the attention of everyone nationally, and on the grander
Speaker 4: scheme of things, you have people like Kate and Clark
Speaker 4: and NC double A women's basketball, where I think I
Speaker 4: can attest that the women's game was a little bit
Speaker 4: more visible and you can name more women on the
Speaker 4: court versus the men's NC double A.
Speaker 3: So we're seeing the shift in.
Speaker 4: Dynamics of men's and women's sports, and women's really starting
Speaker 4: to take off, and so writing the coattails in a
Speaker 4: sense and kind of starting to pave our own path
Speaker 4: in the volleyball world. I think we're on the right
Speaker 4: track and I'm really excited to see where this goes.
Speaker 1: Well, speaking of the college game, I mean, these girls,
Speaker 1: guys and girls, right, they now are able to capitalize
Speaker 1: things to nil get their names out more.
Speaker 3: When you were playing, did you ever think that would happen?
Speaker 4: No, you can take a granola bar without getting yelled at.
Speaker 4: I mean it was like, oh, it's downpouring rain and sleeting,
Speaker 4: but coaches can't give you a ride home, so they're
Speaker 4: like have fun walking. Now girls are getting cars and
Speaker 4: you know, whatever else you want but I think it's
Speaker 4: great that the game is going in that direction to
Speaker 4: be able to, you know, monetize ourselves. I think when
Speaker 4: I was in school, it was more like we didn't
Speaker 4: really question it. It was just like, hey, this is
Speaker 4: the way it is.
Speaker 3: It stinks, you know, like it would have been nice.
Speaker 4: To have some jersey sales or you know, have a
Speaker 4: coffee brand. Who was like here, take a free cup
Speaker 4: every five times?
Speaker 2: Or did your cafe back in college?
Speaker 3: What could have been?
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: But here we are now and people are, you know,
Speaker 4: rightfully so getting what is deserved as athletes and you know,
Speaker 4: their image.
Speaker 3: So I think it's great.
Speaker 4: Do I think it's a little wild right now with
Speaker 4: the transfer portal and NIL and sponsorships and all of this, Maybe,
Speaker 4: but I think again, it's good to be able to
Speaker 4: have freedom. Now we can reel it back a little
Speaker 4: bit maybe later, but amazing where we're at and where
Speaker 4: the sport's going now.
Speaker 1: I know that you obviously didn't experience the NIL and
Speaker 1: all this kind of stuff, but seeing it now and
Speaker 1: kind of being older and having a more adult mindset
Speaker 1: towards it. What kind of advice do you have for
Speaker 1: girls who want to play volleyball and are coming up
Speaker 1: that are soon going to have this opportunity for.
Speaker 2: Nil as well.
Speaker 4: Embrace it, right, Like, you only get four years of it,
Speaker 4: and you have four years to kind of promote yourself
Speaker 4: and you have these amazing opportunities at your hands, and
Speaker 4: so doing that and really using your full potential, but
Speaker 4: at the same time really being smart about your money.
Speaker 4: Like I think people talk about the MBA a lot,
Speaker 4: and people who all of a sudden come into mind
Speaker 4: and then two years later they're broke because they don't
Speaker 4: know how to handle all of this. And so I
Speaker 4: think that's another dynamic that's going to come into play
Speaker 4: where it's like, hey, let's be really smart about this
Speaker 4: and let's take care of our money and not just
Speaker 4: blow it all on one car. It's okay, are we
Speaker 4: doing what we enjoy? Are we finding joy in this
Speaker 4: and does it bring me, you know, passion also? And
Speaker 4: how are we being smart about this so that we
Speaker 4: can kind of grow on it and live on this
Speaker 4: for a while because that money is there, and I
Speaker 4: think that's something really cool.
Speaker 1: So with love starting with the growth of women's sports
Speaker 1: and volleyball, where do you see the sport in five
Speaker 1: ten years, Where do you much to see the sport?
Speaker 3: Where I hope to see the sport.
Speaker 4: I hope that we're regularly on national TV channels every
Speaker 4: almost every single game is being shown on these channels.
Speaker 4: Thousands and one hundred thousands. This is normal for us
Speaker 4: for our viewership. In terms of in arena matches, I
Speaker 4: want us playing in big arenas. I want us having
Speaker 4: that experience, but also having the fans experience it so
Speaker 4: they're not feeling like they're in the nose Blades and
Speaker 4: they're watching Nose Blade game.
Speaker 3: No, it's hey, we are all immersed in it.
Speaker 4: Like, how do we make this best not only for
Speaker 4: the players, for the athletes, coaches, but how do we
Speaker 4: make it also a great fan experience? And I think
Speaker 4: this is something the NFL has done a great job of.
Speaker 4: Is they have jumbo chons everywhere. They have those, you
Speaker 4: guys would know better with the cameras and diving on
Speaker 4: the field and making it look like a video game, Like,
Speaker 4: how do we make our sport that but make it feminine,
Speaker 4: make it very powerful? And I think it's going to
Speaker 4: be really cool change in dynamic the next couple of years.
Speaker 4: But I wanted to be the next biggest thing. I
Speaker 4: wanted to be the next big pro league in the States.
Speaker 2: I love it so much. Yeah, well, thank you so
Speaker 2: much for your time. I want to we got it. Cheers. Oh,
Speaker 2: because this is a wonderful conversation. And thank you, thank you,
Speaker 2: thank you for having pancakes.
Speaker 3: Oh, of course, my pleasure anytime.
Speaker 1: Serving Cancakes is an iHeart women's sports production. You can
Speaker 1: find Serving Cancakes on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. I'm your host, Tiffany Oshinski.
Speaker 1: Anya oliverrez is our senior producer. Our executive producers are
Speaker 1: Carrie Stett, Tamaradiki, and Lindsay Hoffman.
Speaker 2: Our marketing lead is Jawara Parker.
Speaker 1: Our theme music is Pancakes by Eric W. Mast Junior
Speaker 1: special thanks to Lauren CARLINI. We'll be back next week
Speaker 1: with Jordan Poulter, another accomplished setter who helped Team USA
Speaker 1: win their first gold at the Tokyo Olympics and who
Speaker 1: will be back this summer in Paris. Stay tuned for
Speaker 1: what we serve up next.