Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Tiffany Oshinsky, and this is Serving Pancakes NOE.
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, but in volleyball, a pancake is
Speaker 1: a high effort move when a player flattens her hand
Speaker 1: against the ground to keep the ball in play. And
Speaker 1: that's us digging into high efforts that are moving sports forward.
Speaker 1: Listen in as I talk with people making the biggest
Speaker 1: impacts on global volleyball and women's sports perspectives, insights, and
Speaker 1: behind the scenes stories, all with the side of pancakes.
Speaker 1: Today's episode features one of the greatest US women's volleyball
Speaker 1: players ever, Jordan Larson. Known as the Governor, Jordan has
Speaker 1: dominated the sport for nearly two decades. While at Nebraska,
Speaker 1: she was named an All American three times and helped
Speaker 1: the Cornhuskers win the two thousand and six and national championship.
Speaker 1: Jordan is also a three time Olympic medalist who is
Speaker 1: instrumental in helping Team USA win their first gold in
Speaker 1: the sport at the Tokyo Olympics. And now Jordan will
Speaker 1: return home to Nebraska to play for love. Omaha, Hi Jordana,
Speaker 1: I'm on in so excited you here to have the seat.
Speaker 1: We had some delicious pancakes, so I gotta ask you
Speaker 1: to start. If you were creating your own signature pancake,
Speaker 1: what's the Jordan Marsen special?
Speaker 2: Oh goodness, well, I'm a sucker for some chocolates, so
Speaker 2: I probably put a little neutel on there, and then
Speaker 2: I would probably do a fruit so I'd probably do
Speaker 2: some strawberries.
Speaker 1: We get it.
Speaker 2: Then I would probably just top it with a little
Speaker 2: bit of srup.
Speaker 1: Oh I know. So, Jordan, you had an amazing career.
Speaker 1: You still have an amazing career. I don't want to
Speaker 1: end it right now. Yeah, so when you were bored
Speaker 1: now I'm just kidding. No, I'm curious. So before volleyball,
Speaker 1: what did you want to be when you grew up?
Speaker 2: Oh goodness, Well, my dad was a teacher, and so
Speaker 2: I think I ultimately kind of wanted to follow that path.
Speaker 2: Now what that looked like, I'm not sure. I think
Speaker 2: actually have a letter that I wrote to myself like
Speaker 2: I'm going to be a teacher one day, like way before.
Speaker 2: But ultimately I always just really wanted to be a
Speaker 2: professional athlete, but I don't know what that looked like
Speaker 2: or meant.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I would say a teacher. What kind of
Speaker 1: teacher he did, like Jen ed.
Speaker 2: So he did taw a lot of like AutoCAD and
Speaker 2: kind of very applicable things that a lot of kids
Speaker 2: maybe if they didn't want to go to college, that
Speaker 2: they had for other things, construction all that stuff. So
Speaker 2: that's kind of what he did. And then he taught
Speaker 2: drivers at as well. I taught me how to drive,
Speaker 2: so all the successful driving is on my dad, So yeah,
Speaker 2: I know it's it was cool, amazing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I read at one point you wanted to be
Speaker 1: an Olympic gymnast. Is that's true? Yeah?
Speaker 2: So I one of my very first memories of the
Speaker 2: Olympics was in the kitchen with my mom. She would
Speaker 2: always be cooking and I would be sitting at the
Speaker 2: bar and we had this white TV that kind of swiveled,
Speaker 2: you know, and the Olympics were on. The gymnasts were
Speaker 2: like flipping around and I was just at that point
Speaker 2: I was doing gymnastics and I was like, oh, this
Speaker 2: could be enjoyable. And then I grew over six feet
Speaker 2: and that dream ended, so uh no, but I just
Speaker 2: watching them like it was just amazing, like what they're
Speaker 2: doing with their bodies and their minds and I don't know,
Speaker 2: it's just really intriguing. So it's kind of started that
Speaker 2: initial initial thought and dream.
Speaker 1: At the Magnificent seven Carrie Straw dumb dumb, Yes it
Speaker 1: was stomach Dund's Yes, Wow, gosh, that was long. I'm
Speaker 1: right there, like, yeah, sorry, we can at least you
Speaker 1: can remember right now. Oh I remember because I was
Speaker 1: a gymnast too. Then exactly, yeah, same same dream.
Speaker 2: Mine ended a little Yeah, I did a little different,
Speaker 2: but still a similar path.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So when did you get introduced the volleyball? Oh?
Speaker 2: Goodness? So actually my parents did a great job. They
Speaker 2: kind of threw me in a lot of things. So
Speaker 2: I started out with soccer, gymnastics. Yeah, I tried everything.
Speaker 2: I was in the band. I played the piano like
Speaker 2: I because I had really long fingers smell. I was like,
Speaker 2: you're going to learn how to do that, and that
Speaker 2: was not my fortunay, so but yeah, and then vulleyball
Speaker 2: started by dad was a basketball coach and so I
Speaker 2: played softball as well. So just kind of really got
Speaker 2: a taste of everything, and then I really fell in
Speaker 2: love with volleyball. And then that's kind of when I mean,
Speaker 2: col volleyball has been around for a while, but the
Speaker 2: talk wasn't especially in small town. I didn't really hear
Speaker 2: about it until I was kind of turning twelve, and
Speaker 2: that's when I really started diving into more of that.
Speaker 1: But I really just fell in love the sport. Speaking
Speaker 1: of small town, I mean, your town was what eight
Speaker 1: hundred people? Yeah Asian, I'm like fifty something, fifty eight
Speaker 1: or something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's weird to think that, like that's where it
Speaker 2: all started because I was so nervous and scared to leave.
Speaker 2: You know, I was scared to leave the state. You know,
Speaker 2: when you're born and raised there, you have a great
Speaker 2: sense of community. And I just feel very lucky that
Speaker 2: the roots started there and kind of got to expand.
Speaker 1: But now, I just I wouldn't change this life for anything.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I'm just really grateful for my parents to
Speaker 2: keep encouraging me. And if it was up to me,
Speaker 2: I probably would have stayed home.
Speaker 1: So is that part of the reason why he wanted
Speaker 1: to go to Nebraska.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, it was just an easy choice obviously, They're
Speaker 2: a very well known program, very good. They were number
Speaker 2: one when I went there, and I.
Speaker 1: Just want hey, guys, it's me. I just want to
Speaker 1: take a quick moment to explain how good Nebraska was
Speaker 1: when Jordan decided to play for them, because she's so
Speaker 1: humble about it. So when Jordan joined Nebraska in two
Speaker 1: thousand and five, they had already won two NCUBA championships
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety five and two thousand and we're the
Speaker 1: Big Twelve Conference champs seven of the previous nine seasons.
Speaker 1: John Cook became the corn Huskers head coach in two
Speaker 1: thousand and a lot of their winning ways can be
Speaker 1: attributed to him.
Speaker 2: At the helm.
Speaker 1: I mean, Nebraska has won three more times two thousand
Speaker 1: and six with Larsen, twenty fifteen and twenty seventeen. Since then,
Speaker 1: and they have not missed an NCAA tournament appearance since
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two. I know, right all right back to Jordan.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I just want to my family to be
Speaker 2: at a lot of games. So it was really just
Speaker 2: an obvious choice. So in the state, it just really
Speaker 2: loved Nebraska, so it's it was quite easy.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about when you were in high school
Speaker 1: and the recruiting process. When did you know that you
Speaker 1: were like different beyond you don't know when that actually hit.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think I was just in general, like just.
Speaker 1: A good athlete. You know. Again, I did all.
Speaker 2: These other sports, and I think my parents really did
Speaker 2: a good job of even doing extra like I was
Speaker 2: doing like speed and agility, like I was trying to
Speaker 2: do other things outside just sports. But yeah, I think
Speaker 2: when you know, I was actually talking to a coach
Speaker 2: of mine from the past and they're like, yeah, in
Speaker 2: every club tournament, they're just like the court just surrounded,
Speaker 2: you know, like with college coaches and like eyes were
Speaker 2: on and so yeah, I would say probably my freshman year,
Speaker 2: maybe eighth grade year was kind of when I was
Speaker 2: starting to realize that maybe my dream of being a
Speaker 2: college athlete was going to come true.
Speaker 1: And that's a long time ago. Honestly, I thought, though, Well,
Speaker 1: let me ask you this, because you came from such
Speaker 1: a small town, where was your club team in relation?
Speaker 1: Did you have to drive far? Yeah?
Speaker 2: So my first club team was actually Premiere Volleyball Club
Speaker 2: and it was in Omaha. So Omaha is about like
Speaker 2: a forty five minute to an hour drive. So yeah,
Speaker 2: if you're practicing twice a week in the tournaments on
Speaker 2: the weekend, like that was a long time in the car. Again,
Speaker 2: grateful for my parents for one the financial sacrifice and
Speaker 2: also just the time commitment. I also remember we bought
Speaker 2: a suburban because it allowed me to like stretch my
Speaker 2: legs in the back like as we're traveling, and obviously
Speaker 2: lay down and be able to get some sleep while
Speaker 2: we're traveling.
Speaker 1: I'm just really really grateful. When I was playing Chloe,
Speaker 1: I had to drive forty five minutes soon now also
Speaker 1: to get to my team, and my mom bought the
Speaker 1: mini van with the TV and the VHS play. Oh
Speaker 1: the VHS game change it really was. It is crazy. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I had the portable like the portal ones player for
Speaker 1: a while, and then.
Speaker 2: I think we did finally upgrade to the yeah, the
Speaker 2: one in the in the car.
Speaker 1: Yeah, with the wireless head. I was like, this is lucksharing.
Speaker 1: But I was short, so it was easier for me
Speaker 1: to be in.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, no great Yeah, And my parents didn't
Speaker 2: like to fly, so it was just like we're road
Speaker 2: tripping all the time.
Speaker 1: So if we played in Minnesota or Colorreado, we drove it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we drove.
Speaker 2: My mom was not a great flyer. But honestly, now
Speaker 2: looking back, it was great time with family.
Speaker 1: It was. It was really nice. It's so fun road trips. Oh,
Speaker 1: I heard it's kind of yeah boring, it is.
Speaker 2: It's very flat, you know, but you know, we always
Speaker 2: tried to play games in the car or listen to
Speaker 2: music and watch movies as they could mention. Yeah, so
Speaker 2: it was good, amazing.
Speaker 1: So I read also that John Cook when he came
Speaker 1: to visit you once at your high school after the
Speaker 1: game ended, you stayed and basically shook everyone's hand.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Where did you find that humbleness in your personality?
Speaker 1: Where did that come from? Again? I could assume my parents.
Speaker 2: I mean they always just said, you know, I always
Speaker 2: think whoever to come, and that was just was ingreted
Speaker 2: from like from the very beginning. And so and I
Speaker 2: also think my parents did such a good job. Like
Speaker 2: sometimes my stepdad was trying to get my mom out
Speaker 2: of the building because she was just chatting up with somebody.
Speaker 2: So I think it's just something that they've really tried
Speaker 2: to ingrain in me from a young age.
Speaker 1: And I just also think that people are taking.
Speaker 2: Time out of their day to come watch, and you know,
Speaker 2: showing appreciation.
Speaker 1: For that is huge.
Speaker 2: And I didn't even know this, but my dad said
Speaker 2: that the generation before, like my grandpa, never really attended
Speaker 2: any of his game like it was I think obviously
Speaker 2: they were farming and doing all these things, and my
Speaker 2: grandpa didn't never missed a game of mind. So it's
Speaker 2: just even I don't know, just even more appreciation that
Speaker 2: they're taking time out of their schedule to be there
Speaker 2: and to be present and support me and my my dreams.
Speaker 1: So make sure and selfless.
Speaker 2: And I mean, yeah, I also, I mean I think,
Speaker 2: like you know, Nebraska's special and that I think we
Speaker 2: just have really good people and people that care.
Speaker 1: And I know, just showing that is huge.
Speaker 2: So I know, I've always just tried to keep that
Speaker 2: too in the forefront as my career has gone on,
Speaker 2: of you know, you're going to meet a lot of
Speaker 2: different people, and my mom is just very about like
Speaker 2: being a sponge, like taking it all in and just
Speaker 2: enjoying the moment. And so I've really tried to keep
Speaker 2: that in the back of my mind of really how
Speaker 2: I wanted to be and to be good teammate and
Speaker 2: all that stuff.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Yeah, so you joined Nebraska five and then
Speaker 1: O six you win a title? Yes, well was that
Speaker 1: like going from you know, small town high school, dominant player,
Speaker 1: amazing player, but then going to like college and then
Speaker 1: so fast winning and title still so surreal.
Speaker 2: I think what was humbling for me was that my
Speaker 2: freshman year I only had one kill in the final.
Speaker 1: Is like, okay, did we get to do better?
Speaker 2: But it was I mean, obviously the team was great,
Speaker 2: and I think we learned a lot of lessons that
Speaker 2: year and O five and how we wanted to be
Speaker 2: better going into six, and I think we made a
Speaker 2: lot of great changes, and culturally we were just very
Speaker 2: sound and yeah, just grewing up a small town and
Speaker 2: being able to represent my little small town but also
Speaker 2: the state. It was huge and the huge honor and yeah,
Speaker 2: it's still one of my favorite memories of the all time.
Speaker 1: So when did the nickname the Governor come into pool?
Speaker 2: Yeah? That was a little bit further after college. It
Speaker 2: was like my second year in the national team. We
Speaker 2: were in Thailand and the games are finished and like
Speaker 2: a guy is standing at the end with a red
Speaker 2: shirt on, like waving me down and Lucas, Like Fluca
Speaker 2: is one of my ex teammates, one of my really
Speaker 2: good friends.
Speaker 1: And the guy was there and he's like, I know
Speaker 1: your dad and like.
Speaker 2: He's from Nebraska, and like Luca's like seriously, like we're
Speaker 2: all the way in Thailand. And so she's telling this
Speaker 2: story to her brother, and her brother's like, well, of
Speaker 2: course she's the governor. And Feluca's really good with nicknames,
Speaker 2: like so good that like you have to start responding
Speaker 2: because so every day after practice she's like gouvna ye
Speaker 2: gummy like and finally, I like change my Instagram handle
Speaker 2: as a joke. Now if I try to change it,
Speaker 2: it's like contact Instagram and I'm just like a hasshole.
Speaker 2: It's just but now it's just become kind of funny.
Speaker 2: I actually saw the governor of Nebraska like two months
Speaker 2: ago and he's like Governor and I was like, this
Speaker 2: is weird. That's it just so it's so funny. So
Speaker 2: it's it's now it's now become yeah kind of a thing.
Speaker 1: I love that that's such a good nickname. First, I
Speaker 1: bet it's stuck in that Governor of Nebraska is like
Speaker 1: all of that. It's just amazing. It's so funny. It's
Speaker 1: so funny. So when you were in Nebraska, when did
Speaker 1: you know you wanted to go pro? And when did
Speaker 1: you know that you were going to take this next step? Yeah?
Speaker 2: So I actually when I was twelve, I actually set
Speaker 2: three goals. I wanted to start in high school. I
Speaker 2: wanted to go to college to play volleyball. And then
Speaker 2: I think even at that age, I was walking around
Speaker 2: saying like, I'm going to be an Olympian. And I
Speaker 2: don't know at that time if I knew what that meant,
Speaker 2: but I think when I got to college, like that
Speaker 2: was always kind of Coach Cook always knew that was
Speaker 2: a goal of mine, and I think he did a
Speaker 2: really good job of kind of keeping that as a reminder,
Speaker 2: Like as far as certain behaviors or technical things that
Speaker 2: I was doing, he was like, hey, this can lead
Speaker 2: you down to where you want to be, you know.
Speaker 2: And I just always appreciated that as a reminder of
Speaker 2: just like it may be hard now, but like where
Speaker 2: you want to go, it's going to be worth it.
Speaker 2: I've always had that dream, but I think going to
Speaker 2: college helped kind of build those stepping stones to like
Speaker 2: the next level.
Speaker 1: So you guys did in eight correct this December? Hedge Yep, yep.
Speaker 1: I mean I've talked to a bunch of the girls
Speaker 1: on the team right now, and you know, a lot
Speaker 1: of them graduated in the teens late teens and went pro.
Speaker 1: So this is alway, this is ten years before that.
Speaker 1: About what was it like to go pro at that time? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was.
Speaker 2: Still just so much unknown. Actually, I remember asking one
Speaker 2: of our alumnis Nancy Metcalf. She was kind of one
Speaker 2: that Allison Weston had been on the national team before,
Speaker 2: but I didn't have a connection to her. Per see,
Speaker 2: she was a little bit older than me. But Nancy
Speaker 2: was kind of in and around and still playing pro
Speaker 2: and coming back that she was present enough that I
Speaker 2: could ask a lot of questions.
Speaker 1: And again, I think the navigating.
Speaker 2: Of information just wasn't there. You know, it was like
Speaker 2: what do we think of this team? And you know,
Speaker 2: there's just not a lot of information.
Speaker 1: So now facebook to talk to agents, it was exactly exactly,
Speaker 1: nothing really connecting.
Speaker 2: And so I think learning from her and kind of
Speaker 2: just general questions to ask, even contract stuff things really
Speaker 2: helped me set a foundation of like, all right.
Speaker 1: What are we getting into and then how can we
Speaker 1: go from here? So I'm gonna lie. I was scary.
Speaker 2: Like I said, if I was up to me, I
Speaker 2: probably wouldn't left Nebraska.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: It was just very I was a home body and
Speaker 2: so my parents and you know, had a great support
Speaker 2: system to kind of help me navigate that. But there
Speaker 2: was still a lot of unknowns at that time. Now
Speaker 2: it's unbelievable. I mean, it's cool to see how much
Speaker 2: information is out there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. And I also saw that I guess
Speaker 1: in two thousand and nine, AVP was trying to recruit
Speaker 1: you to play beach. Is this true?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well they were doing like like an indoor beach series,
Speaker 2: so they were doing like a travel thing, and so
Speaker 2: they actually came to Ohan and did an indoor beach series,
Speaker 2: and I remember going and watching and thinking that that
Speaker 2: was an option. And the one thing about beach I
Speaker 2: think that's also evolved over time. But then it was
Speaker 2: just like it was just really hard to make a living,
Speaker 2: you know, it was like you had to play and
Speaker 2: then have a second job. And I just didn't know
Speaker 2: if that was for me at that moment. And so
Speaker 2: that made that decision pretty easy. That I really just
Speaker 2: wanted to commit to pro and then national team indoor
Speaker 2: and then see after that, see where that took me.
Speaker 2: But I'm still kind of intrigued. But I'm like, what,
Speaker 2: you know, beach, you never know. I was gonna say it,
Speaker 2: like it's beach. Maybe it's still in your future. I know,
Speaker 2: and you examined it. When did corscra like, you know,
Speaker 2: officially move from indoor to beach? I mean he was older,
Speaker 2: so I'm kind of like, well, I don't know. You
Speaker 2: never close the door, so we'll see.
Speaker 1: I'm not just making any promises, you know, exactly. Just
Speaker 1: got to throw that out there. I'm guessing. So I
Speaker 1: want to talk about the twenty twenty Olympics. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: guess twenty twenty one Tokyo. At this time, you know,
Speaker 1: you had been to two other Olympics before you went
Speaker 1: to Silver. You went to Bronze and I art your
Speaker 1: third Olympics. But a lot of these girls on your
Speaker 1: team it was their first time. So what was it
Speaker 1: like kind of being you know, this queen the veteran
Speaker 1: with these girls who idolized you and used to watch
Speaker 1: you play and playing together at this team.
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm getting chills singing about it. It's I still
Speaker 2: can't believe it. Honestly, it's I don't even know how
Speaker 2: to like put into words because it's the way we
Speaker 2: went about it. I think if you would ask the
Speaker 2: majority of us in twenty twenty if the Olympics were
Speaker 2: at the time, I don't know if we would have
Speaker 2: been ready. But I think with COVID it allowed us
Speaker 2: time and clarity to have a lot of conversation and
Speaker 2: how to build a culture that we desired and wanted,
Speaker 2: and gave us a lot of clarity that when we
Speaker 2: did come back in the gym in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 2: we all knew exactly what we had to do to execute.
Speaker 2: We all knew exactly what it was going to be.
Speaker 2: And how we went about just the Olympic Games, right,
Speaker 2: you know, going three zero three zero three, oh, like
Speaker 2: quarterfinals something like I don't even know if that's maybe
Speaker 2: happened maybe one more time in history, Like it's crazy.
Speaker 2: So but I'm just really proud of how we kind
Speaker 2: of set a precedent of how we wanted to be
Speaker 2: in the gym and then you just see the result
Speaker 2: at the end. But I think all of us, well, yes,
Speaker 2: winning a gold medal is huge. I think we all
Speaker 2: just resonate with the process that it took to get there,
Speaker 2: and for me, it was just icing on the cake.
Speaker 2: It was like, you know, you feel like you're doing
Speaker 2: the right thing, and like you come up short a
Speaker 2: couple of times and then you feel like you get
Speaker 2: another chance. You're like, all right, literally, I'm I've done everything,
Speaker 2: so you know, if I know, I get it, like
Speaker 2: it is what it is, you know, So it's yeah,
Speaker 2: it's really special.
Speaker 1: Did you have an idea like going into that gold
Speaker 1: medal match that like this was the year? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean I definitely, but I was so emotional, like I
Speaker 1: was me again. There were many reasons why Jordan was
Speaker 1: so emotional before that match, which we'll get to in
Speaker 1: just a second, but to give you an idea of
Speaker 1: how important this game was for Team USA, volleyball became
Speaker 1: an Olympic sport back in nineteen sixty four, and it
Speaker 1: took fifty seven years for the US women's national team
Speaker 1: to win their first gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Speaker 1: All right, well, now let's get back to the other
Speaker 1: reasons why this match meant so much for Jordan.
Speaker 2: I took a shower that I'm wearying, like crying in
Speaker 2: the shower, Like I was seeing one of my best friends,
Speaker 2: like Feluka that was gonna be my last time, like
Speaker 2: playing with her. Were driving into Gold I'm like looking
Speaker 2: over like bowling, and she's like.
Speaker 1: What are you doing?
Speaker 3: We're about to go play for a gold medal, and
Speaker 3: I'm just like, I don't know, Like I just I
Speaker 3: felt something that I was like, this is it and
Speaker 3: I knew that this is it, and so yeah, it
Speaker 3: just really was just beautiful.
Speaker 1: Not honestly thanks to Hank yeah icing, yeah, yeah, you
Speaker 1: had said that winning the gold medal was kind of
Speaker 1: your way of proving people who said you're playing, why
Speaker 1: she's still playing? Yes, exactly exactly. So how did it
Speaker 1: make you feel when you did actually win this, being
Speaker 1: you know, older than a lot of the other girls.
Speaker 2: I think it validated that you can stay in it
Speaker 2: longer than you ever expected. I think what's hard is like,
Speaker 2: as a female, you know, this desire to have a family.
Speaker 2: It's like kind of this teeter totter of the timing
Speaker 2: of that and like how to get back and you know,
Speaker 2: I think there's just a lot of questions on the
Speaker 2: female side of all those things. But I think if
Speaker 2: you do things, I'm gonna say, do things right or
Speaker 2: you know, some people don't have the control of maybe
Speaker 2: injury or things like that. But I think getting after
Speaker 2: in the weight room, nutrition, I just think that like
Speaker 2: taking care of your body and understanding.
Speaker 1: But a lot of it's mindset.
Speaker 2: It's really like if I could tell anybody that's starting
Speaker 2: out or even in the trenches of like how to
Speaker 2: be a high performer, like mental performance, sports psychology, like
Speaker 2: it is what your brain can control on situation is huge,
Speaker 2: and what you tell yourself. I mean, I felt like
Speaker 2: I was still in really good shape and Tokyo probably
Speaker 2: the best shape I've ever been in. But a lot
Speaker 2: too his mindset of like overcoming body aches and all
Speaker 2: those things like was very real. My mind was strong,
Speaker 2: and also the support around me is huge.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean a lot of athletes are playing longer. Say,
Speaker 1: I mean you got Lebron James, he's thirty nine. Y
Speaker 1: serena woman was retired at forty one. Yep, Tom Brady
Speaker 1: retired and retired retired at forty five. But like that's
Speaker 1: a long career for these I mean mine is Syriena,
Speaker 1: but she's the lateral movements in tennis and stuff. But
Speaker 1: you know, contact sports and everything and volley blah, but
Speaker 1: jumping the knees and everything like that. So what do
Speaker 1: you say to the people who do say you're too old?
Speaker 1: I mean, I it's warranted. I get it, you know,
Speaker 1: I understand.
Speaker 2: And I never thought that I would be in it
Speaker 2: this long, to be honest, I you know, I joked
Speaker 2: that I.
Speaker 1: Was judging people, but I was like, what else are
Speaker 1: you doing? Like, what are you doing?
Speaker 2: You know, with your life to some degree, but I
Speaker 2: don't know. I still love it and I still enjoy
Speaker 2: coming to work every day. And everybody that has retired,
Speaker 2: they're like, I wish I would have stayed in a longer.
Speaker 1: So I'm kind of like, if I can.
Speaker 2: Still do it at the level that I want to do.
Speaker 1: It, why not?
Speaker 2: And I don't know, And I just I'm finding little
Speaker 2: ways to like do things differently. And now it's more
Speaker 2: of how can I help the next generation and how
Speaker 2: can I you know, I feel like this defending of
Speaker 2: none of what we want because I think that you
Speaker 2: can get caught up in results and all that stuff.
Speaker 2: But depending on how we went about it, and that's
Speaker 2: learning how to be a good teammate, like showing up
Speaker 2: for one another. Because the USA gym is really competitive.
Speaker 2: We're training with thirty at times, you know, when people
Speaker 2: are constantly changing, and so how do we create a
Speaker 2: standard that's that shows the way and how to do it?
Speaker 1: So that's kind of really where the.
Speaker 2: Role I've taken on is just learning and helping these
Speaker 2: young younger kids coming in the gym. It's kind of
Speaker 2: where I and my happiness.
Speaker 1: I love that. So I just listened to a podcast
Speaker 1: with Billy Jean King and she had this line where
Speaker 1: she said leaders don't choose followers. Followers choose leaders. Oh wow, right,
Speaker 1: very pointing out us the Billy Sheen. But you know
Speaker 1: you're a leader. So what do you think through your career,
Speaker 1: how did you find that leadership inside you? How did
Speaker 1: you manage to let your followers come to you.
Speaker 2: I would say it's definitely evolved over time, and I've
Speaker 2: had to continue to learn. I think early on in
Speaker 2: my career was lead by example, and I still think
Speaker 2: I kind of cater to that side of it, but
Speaker 2: learning now how to flex my voice and kind of
Speaker 2: being able to articulate like what I see and how
Speaker 2: I see it. I think that has been huge, But
Speaker 2: I think just I was talking to the girls a
Speaker 2: little bit today of just like I always keep in
Speaker 2: the back of my mind like legacy, like when I
Speaker 2: step away, how do I want to feel internally of
Speaker 2: how I approached every day and how I tried to
Speaker 2: do the best I could personally, but then also how
Speaker 2: I could help those around me, and keeping that always
Speaker 2: in the forefront, because when I step away, whenever that is,
Speaker 2: I want to know like how people thought of my
Speaker 2: time and the time that I gave to the sport.
Speaker 2: So that's really where a lot of my motivation has
Speaker 2: come from.
Speaker 1: And I think leader is always such a heavy word
Speaker 1: because you don't think of it in the moment.
Speaker 2: You know, you're just doing your job and you're showing
Speaker 2: up and trying to be the best you can. So
Speaker 2: it's been a fun process trying to learn, and I've
Speaker 2: just had so many examples before me of like just
Speaker 2: true honest leadership and kind of understanding what they do
Speaker 2: and how they do and then how can I still
Speaker 2: be true to me and authentic to me, because that's
Speaker 2: important as well.
Speaker 1: Have you ever had any doubts, oh laita cheese? Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: thrilled out as like my yeah, I'm an overthinker. I'm
Speaker 1: a librev. I don't know, right, I don't know that
Speaker 1: like othah, but he's trying to find the balance exactly exactly.
Speaker 1: But I think it's always also keep me in check.
Speaker 2: I think this general curiosity of how to get better
Speaker 2: is huge for me, and but sometimes I can't sit
Speaker 2: in that for too long because I feel like I'm
Speaker 2: just remaining and I like I can't. I'm like I
Speaker 2: need to be like learning something or doing something. And
Speaker 2: so yeah, I think that doubt is a real thing.
Speaker 2: And I also encourage athletes today like fear is fear
Speaker 2: and doubt and anxiety and game like it all normal.
Speaker 2: We all had it right, Like if someone tells you
Speaker 2: they don't, then for me, they're they're not like real, right,
Speaker 2: because it's like all those emotions come, but you just
Speaker 2: get better at managing as you get older. It's being
Speaker 2: able to acknowledge the fear or acknowledge the emotion and
Speaker 2: then be able to not sit in it but move
Speaker 2: through it.
Speaker 1: In similar vain, how have you handled burnout because playing
Speaker 1: for so long I'm yeah, sure at some point, no, yeah.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, definitely, you know, but I still think that
Speaker 2: I'm like living my drain, like at the end of
Speaker 2: the day, like I always try to come back to
Speaker 2: that of just like, yeah, it's hit me at times,
Speaker 2: and especially I.
Speaker 1: Think Overseas was definitely tougher. But I don't know.
Speaker 2: I just love competition. I love getting after it every day. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I just keep pushing on.
Speaker 1: I'm going to paraphrase Danny Railhaus from Tim Lasso here
Speaker 1: for akaecond and for you, I feel like volleyball is wife, right,
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, but I know you do other things, yes,
Speaker 1: So what do you do when you're not on the court?
Speaker 1: What are the Jordan Larson fun day off day?
Speaker 2: Volleyball is life for me, It really is. It's I
Speaker 2: can watch all the time and talk about it all
Speaker 2: the time. But I do think that the high performance
Speaker 2: side of like the mental capacity just even you know,
Speaker 2: I love getting to know other people's like what makes
Speaker 2: sim tick, like having those conversations like really like inspire me.
Speaker 2: I like to golf, I enjoy, Yeah, I enjoy just
Speaker 2: having nice dinners with family and friends, like just sharing time,
Speaker 2: like we.
Speaker 1: Could do anything.
Speaker 2: I really am a pretty good with full kind of person,
Speaker 2: and so I kind of have fun doing pretty much everything.
Speaker 2: So that's kind of where I spend my time.
Speaker 1: Nice dinner is less about the food more about the
Speaker 1: company court.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I also like I'm a litt about like
Speaker 2: a bougie, a little bogie I know, I know she
Speaker 2: like that, like a good you know, like I've had
Speaker 2: No Blue a couple of times, unbelievable sushi.
Speaker 1: It's like with that experience black cod, Oh my god,
Speaker 1: it's amazing. But then they can take you through this
Speaker 1: whole experience. You don't know what you're going to get.
Speaker 1: Like that is I signed me up? That's me? So golf,
Speaker 1: are you good? Yes?
Speaker 2: You know, I would like to say I'm like decent,
Speaker 2: Like I I golf with some guy friends and they
Speaker 2: always give me like a stroke ahole.
Speaker 1: So I mean I'm not like, yeah, like I feel
Speaker 1: like that's okay.
Speaker 2: So what's also just going out and like just enjoying
Speaker 2: the course and having a few drinks and you know
Speaker 2: more just it's not the competitive side really of me
Speaker 2: that comes out. It's more of just like I'm out
Speaker 2: here just to have a good time. So but I
Speaker 2: also love golf. Yeah, Now we play for putts.
Speaker 1: Have you ever done that?
Speaker 2: Which kind of makes it a little more fun when
Speaker 2: my families do that. One of my family members does
Speaker 2: that where you all get to the green and then
Speaker 2: you count how many putt and then at the end
Speaker 2: you like how I.
Speaker 1: Would lose every time? Putting is not the way for you.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I end up I mark my whole as an
Speaker 1: infinity because I won't even finished.
Speaker 2: I've built that a few times too, and when the
Speaker 2: weather's beautiful, it's like the best time.
Speaker 1: So have you been able to play different courses around
Speaker 1: the world? Yeah, now around the world of the country.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, just around the country a little bit, mainly
Speaker 2: in California, a couple of Nebraska.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I still I want to expand though. That is one
Speaker 2: thing that I really love to do and would love.
Speaker 1: To continue to do.
Speaker 2: And COVID just it was the only sport you really
Speaker 2: could do. So I was like, I think going out
Speaker 2: like four times a week. Yeah, and you could walk,
Speaker 2: it was great workout. Like yeah, yeah, could dutch pin,
Speaker 2: but that doesn't matter. I also love a good spat day,
Speaker 2: Like I'm like self care, just like, give me a
Speaker 2: facial massage pool, Like that's my time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love it. Yeah. Do you like to read?
Speaker 1: You know, I've tried. It's something I'm like, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: let me just buy this book and.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna I'm gonna read like the first two chapters
Speaker 2: and then yeah even audio sometimes and like I can't
Speaker 2: really get into it. So more podcasts maybe, but I'm
Speaker 2: even that so like I'm addicted to the swiping, scrolling,
Speaker 2: you know, that's my my Like it is an edible
Speaker 2: for me to like kind of check out.
Speaker 1: Because I was actually talking to this one of.
Speaker 2: Our nutritionis to o the day because I was like,
Speaker 2: some the mental load that it takes to play at
Speaker 2: a high level is more intense than you think than
Speaker 2: people think, you know, And so sometimes I just get
Speaker 2: home and I just like can't think.
Speaker 1: So this is just not thinking so meditative.
Speaker 2: But yeah, and it's so it's so bad for you,
Speaker 2: but yeah, it's just my yeah, kryptonite, I guess of ways.
Speaker 1: So well, going back to volleyball, so you are now coaching, yes,
Speaker 1: at your alma mater. What's that like?
Speaker 2: Oh, it's been so fun And I think the best
Speaker 2: part is like seeing these girls, Like I think of
Speaker 2: myself at that time and what I was kind of
Speaker 2: going through and seeing them execute and them being just
Speaker 2: absolutely elated is like the best feeling. And just seeing
Speaker 2: them do so well has been so fun. And I
Speaker 2: think going back to and like a lot of people
Speaker 2: in the athletic department are still from when I was there,
Speaker 2: which is cool to like now be in a different
Speaker 2: kind of role and see them as I don't know,
Speaker 2: I'm not the young immature.
Speaker 1: You know, they're like, oh my gosh, I have grown up,
Speaker 1: but you know.
Speaker 2: So I think it's it's been really full circle moment
Speaker 2: for me. And obviously just hustrenation is unreal. It's the
Speaker 2: greatest thing. And the support that the community has in
Speaker 2: the state is just unmatched. So I really feel lucky
Speaker 2: that John is also allowing me to do all these
Speaker 2: other things and kind of get my hands in everything.
Speaker 2: But I'm learning and growing and I love it so much.
Speaker 1: So NIL is obviously a big difference from Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: and you played back in college, But how else have
Speaker 1: you seen the sport evolved at the college, well even
Speaker 1: at the club level, and what's still the same?
Speaker 2: A lot has changed, Like you said, NIL is changing
Speaker 2: the space space, which is cool, it's interesting, but it's
Speaker 2: also adding another layer of stress for our athletes and
Speaker 2: helping them manage that as well has been huge.
Speaker 1: But the club scene, I mean unreal, like unreal.
Speaker 2: To see the amount of just athletes playing, like I
Speaker 2: know a couple of director club directors in our area
Speaker 2: that are like forty five and fifty teams like that
Speaker 2: is insane.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's insane, and I'm just like, hi again, I
Speaker 1: wanted to quickly explain how popular the sport is. So,
Speaker 1: girls volleyball is the most popular team high school sport
Speaker 1: in the United States. Over three hundred thousand girls aged
Speaker 1: eleven to eighteen play USA volleyball, which is what is
Speaker 1: called club volleyball and played outside of high school. All right, now,
Speaker 1: back to Jordan talking about club ball back when she played.
Speaker 2: Back then, it was like you had like one age
Speaker 2: division and a second team and like that was it.
Speaker 2: Now they're like five or six deep and then like
Speaker 2: another actual like session for more athletes to play. I
Speaker 2: don't know, it's just been it's really really encouraging. And
Speaker 2: I also think the pro scene that's coming on is huge.
Speaker 2: It's just getting more eyeballs on a sport that we
Speaker 2: all love, so it's amazing, amazing to see.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and all the opportunity that's out there. I mean,
Speaker 1: were you at the Nebraska vulable Day. Yeah? Though, yeah,
Speaker 1: the world record? No oh, where were you? What was
Speaker 1: in Canada?
Speaker 2: We were playing for the national team, but we watched it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: me and Justine and some of the Nebraska girls were
Speaker 2: there as well. But unbelievably special. And I mean, gosh.
Speaker 1: What that did for women's sports.
Speaker 2: Like I had text from all of the world, my friends,
Speaker 2: and They're like, what's happening in Nebraska.
Speaker 1: I'm like, you know, it's just what we do. Just
Speaker 1: ninety thousand people I stayed in to watch college volleyball exactly.
Speaker 2: But people that were there said it was just absolutely
Speaker 2: moving and to happen where the place I grew up
Speaker 2: is even special.
Speaker 1: Could you have ever imagined that when you played? Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, no, I remember even at that time.
Speaker 2: You know, Final four was like sixteen thousand, and that
Speaker 2: was huge, you know, and so like to even show that,
Speaker 2: but it just shows like anything is possible.
Speaker 1: And again, I think the wave of women's sports right
Speaker 1: now is huge.
Speaker 2: I mean, what Kaila Clark is doing on the women's
Speaker 2: basketball side, and it's really really cool. So I hope
Speaker 2: that people keep watching and just investing in us. It's
Speaker 2: really a privilege.
Speaker 1: Well, now you get to play here in the States,
Speaker 1: a founding athlete of love. Ohmah, I you know, how
Speaker 1: does it feel to actually be playing here now? Yeah?
Speaker 1: It's I don't know. We actually had a dinner.
Speaker 2: Our national team kind of got all back together, and
Speaker 2: everybody's saying like, I'm staying home. I'm staying home, Like
Speaker 2: it's so surreal. And I think all of us don't
Speaker 2: have to say goodbye. I think it's hard. You know,
Speaker 2: we all say goodbye for seven months and then we're
Speaker 2: coming back together and now it's like, huh, I'm going.
Speaker 1: To see you next weekend, you know. Like it's so
Speaker 1: it's so.
Speaker 2: Nice, and I know all of us are just so
Speaker 2: excited for our families and friends to be able to
Speaker 2: watch us in person. Then it's also going to take
Speaker 2: an adjustment, right, Like I think about family and friends
Speaker 2: only coming to major events like Olympic Games, and so
Speaker 2: the fact that they get to see me like live
Speaker 2: is huge. So I'm really excited, and especially in the
Speaker 2: Braska community, like.
Speaker 1: Fantastic and now that you're going to be able to
Speaker 1: play here in the States. What are you looking forward
Speaker 1: to doing, you know, other interests that you're helping to
Speaker 1: pursue while you're.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I think just more diving deep in the
Speaker 2: community and how can we continue to gain access to
Speaker 2: high level, voiable and high level coaching. I think that
Speaker 2: now we have platforms and our continued to bring more
Speaker 2: platforms of like how to get more efficient with what
Speaker 2: we do and continue to grow the game, and so
Speaker 2: just diving more in the community and how I can help.
Speaker 2: I think that's really where my heart is and it's
Speaker 2: really cool to see that a lot of people just
Speaker 2: love the game and want to continue to grow the game.
Speaker 2: So I have a lot more coming on, but uh,
Speaker 2: we're going to kind of keep that at least off Olympics.
Speaker 2: Maybe if you can out some other things going on.
Speaker 1: So I know, I know right now, like I said
Speaker 1: at the beginning, you have had an amazing career. Your
Speaker 1: career is not done yet. But if you could give
Speaker 1: advice to your twelve year old self, what would it be?
Speaker 2: Oh goodness, I think the advice I would give to
Speaker 2: my twelve year old self would probably be just I
Speaker 2: think there was times that I allowed stress to kind
Speaker 2: of overcome me that it almost blinded me for other
Speaker 2: areas of where I could remain present. Like I would
Speaker 2: think I was so like you know when they're doing
Speaker 2: the horse free like Nugget dear Ros just like right
Speaker 2: the blinders right like. I feel like at times I
Speaker 2: was a lot like that versus opening myself up to
Speaker 2: other areas of how I can I mean, I was
Speaker 2: always looking to improve, but other ways of even connecting
Speaker 2: with teammates and doing that, I think more enjoyment of
Speaker 2: the process versus not so much outcome based.
Speaker 1: I think early on in my.
Speaker 2: Career I think would have changed even more the depths
Speaker 2: of love I have for the game.
Speaker 1: So I know I brought this up before that you've
Speaker 1: had an amazing career, but your career is not done yet.
Speaker 1: But you've seen the sport evolve from you know, two
Speaker 1: thousand and five to today. But where do you hope
Speaker 1: the sport goes in five ten years from now?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just think obviously, I hope the love of
Speaker 2: the game and the states continues to grow and we
Speaker 2: can continue to have our girls stay home and continue
Speaker 2: to grow that. And I also think the speed is.
Speaker 2: I think we're playing a lot like the men play,
Speaker 2: and so I hope that we can continue to evolve
Speaker 2: that as well.
Speaker 1: So love it well, Thank you so much for being
Speaker 1: here at Jordan and Jeers Jeers Yeas. Serving Pancakes is
Speaker 1: an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue
Speaker 1: Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by
Speaker 1: League one Volleyball. I'm your host, Tiffany Oshinsky. Anya Oliverrez
Speaker 1: is our senior producer. Our executive producers are Carrie Stett,
Speaker 1: Tamara Daiki, and Lindsay Hoffman. Our marketing lead is Jawara Parker.
Speaker 1: Sound mixing by Max Lorenzen. Our theme music is Pancakes
Speaker 1: by Eric W. Mast Junior special thanks to Jordan Larsen.
Speaker 1: We'll be back the next few weeks to break down
Speaker 1: the matches that matter most at the twenty twenty four
Speaker 1: Paris Olympics. Get ready for some unfiltered analysis and authentic
Speaker 1: conversations about the sport itself and what it takes to
Speaker 1: stand on the podium. I'll be joined by prominent figures
Speaker 1: in women's volleyball. And women's sports as we dive deep
Speaker 1: into match plays, mindset, and memories from years past, and
Speaker 1: you can guarantee that pancakes will be on the menu.
Speaker 1: Stay tuned for what we serve up next.