EP #104 - What College Beach Volleyball Coaches Hate and Love in Recruits Inside Look! Complete Coach Academy

In this episode of the Better at Beach podcast, Mark Burik and Colby discuss the recruiting process for beach volleyball. They provide advice for coaches, club directors, and players on how to stand out and get noticed by college coaches. They emphasize the importance of creating impressive highlight videos, being persistent in reaching out to coaches, and providing clear identification in videos. They also discuss the importance of honesty and transparency in the recruiting process and the need for coaches to understand the specific needs and culture of each college program. In this conversation, Mark Burik and Colby Burleson discuss the importance of creating a positive and supportive culture in beach volleyball. They highlight the role of parents in shaping a player's attitude and behavior, emphasizing the need for parents to avoid making excuses and badmouthing partners. They also stress the importance of self-reflection and seeking feedback as coaches, and offer practical tips for improving coaching practices. The conversation concludes with a discussion on the value of video in the recruiting process and the importance of networking with other coaches. 

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Time Stamps :

00:00 : Introduction and Overview

03:45 : Tips for Coaches and Players in the Recruiting Process

14:08 : Creating Impressive Highlight Videos

17:26 : The Importance of Persistence and Genuine Interest

19:46 : Clear Identification: Making it Easy for Coaches

23:06 : Honesty and Transparency in the Recruiting Process

25:49 : Understanding the Needs and Culture of College Programs

28:43 : Defining the Ideal Player Persona for Your Program

34:02 : Building a Positive Culture in Beach Volleyball

35:11 : The Impact of Parents on Player Attitude and Behavior

39:22 : The Importance of Self-Reflection and Feedback for Coaches

45:48 : Utilizing Video in the Recruiting Process

50:27 : The Value of Networking with Other Coaches

 

Mark Burik (00:00.696) Hello everybody. And welcome to the better at beach podcast. My name is Mark Burik And today you guys are going to get a look inside one of our complete coach Academy group meetings. So we had a really awesome discussion that I think is going to bring a ton of good information for anybody who is coaching either at the junior or high school level, as well as the college level. we talked with. He was the club director for hive volleyball, one of the absolute powerhouses of indoor volleyball. has since left that club and he is now coaching beach volleyball for university of Utah. So he's got a lot of experience as a player and a coach. during our, Complete coach Academy meeting. kind of leaned on him and asked him for a lot of recruiting. Advice. So if there's somebody who is looking to recruit it in your life, if there are coaches who are on the recruiting trail and might need some advice, if you're a coach or you know, any coaches who want to help get their kids recruited, that's what we talked a lot about. In this meeting. Now, if you don't know the complete coach Academy is a year round training program that I run where I meet with a lot of coaches from around the country every week. And we problem solve, we discuss things with each other. We talk about, practice management, team management, player and parent problems, coaching problems. We actually exchange work opportunities, which is really cool. And we share a lot of our. coaching philosophy here at better at beach. So this was one of those meetings that it just became so really filled with great information that I thought, Hey, we've got to release this as a podcast episode and share it with the audience. If you guys want to become part of the complete coach Academy and meet with us and other coaches every week and learn from elite players and elite coaches doing it at the highest level. Mark Burik (02:19.086) You're more than welcome. Just go to better at peach .com forward slash coach. You can check out the links around this podcast or this video, and you will also see some opt -ins for our 36 best beach volleyball drills. Now those are all written out, but we do also have a practice planning super pack where you have over 200 beach volleyball drills and a lot of recorded practices that you can just put into play on day. So if you're looking for an answer to your practice planning woes and your season planning woes, if you're looking for new drills, recommend joining the complete coach Academy and you can click the link around this video. But I want to get started because I want you guys to learn all about recruiting and the pet peeves from college coaches, pet peeves that they look for in players, parents, and actual club coaches. And, I want you to see some cheat codes as far as getting your videos looked at those of you or your athletes. So if you are hovering around that juniors or college recruiting circuit in any way, this episode is for you. If not. Skip to the next one and go ahead and share it with somebody who is. All right. Let's head into the meeting where we will get some. Mark Burik (03:45.966) So I know Colby is here and Colby, you're not too busy, he coaches for Utah, their beach team. He also was the director for hive volleyball, which if you guys don't know is one of the powerhouse indoor clubs in the country. so he's got a wealth of experience at that level. And I would love to lean on him for a few meetings and maybe just talk about Colby. Maybe you can help us out and hear from you right now. Your recruiting experience is like what you go through. And then if anybody else has questions either as budding club coaches, high school coaches, or beyond, maybe they can say, like, you can help them with best practices, what you want to see in an actual recruiting video, how a kid can get noticed without bothering you, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So maybe you can introduce yourself for a sec. Yeah. Hey guys, I'm Colby. Like Mark said, assistant coach at the University of Utah. I've been there for four seasons. First two, I just was volunteer. And then this will be my second season as a paid assistant. Started helping out with recruiting last year. I helped with recruiting prior, but officially as a recruiting coach. So I've been out on the road. Doing some of that stuff. Coach just about every kind of volleyball juniors, adults coached with Mark when he was doing a little stint here in Utah years back. And yeah, love coaching. Definitely really enjoy the recruiting aspect. I'm kind of a boy nerd in that I could sit and watch volleyball day so that kind of fits right in line with with what I currently do. I just spent a couple weeks down in Hermosa watching a bunch of juniors. And yeah, we're right in the middle of still recruiting is one of those things that never seems to end. Actively out there recruiting got visits coming in some recruits coming in tomorrow and Thursday this week. And yeah, it's it's a lot of fun. But yeah, I'm definitely happy to help with with what I look for. I can't speak for all coaches by any means, but and kind of how I go through my process. I think on the beach end, I assume everybody here is probably beach coaches specifically is that. Mark Burik (06:13.546) Right? Or do we have some indoor guys? I think we have a few that do coach both, but I don't think we have anyone in here who doesn't coach at least a little beach. Cool, yeah, yeah, I mean, beaches still a little bit different and I think in some ways behind in terms of like how. College coaches are still like gaining information from recruits, so that's always a little bit of a challenge in terms of like finding recruits. It's crazy to me how often you know have a club coach reach out to me and be like. Yeah, this kid you're her number one school and it's like I've never even heard from this kid. I haven't seen an email. I don't even know who this is. So how is it that I'm there number one school and you know never never seen or heard from them so that that can present some challenges. We use a lot of Instagram, a lot of YouTube, but yeah, I'm definitely happy to help with any specific questions. If you guys have any, feel free to jump in. I mean for me the biggest thing right away is. just enough to catch my interest, know, five seconds. And then I really want to see, think right now on the beach side of things, YouTube is probably the best thing. So I just can't really see much. I can find them first on Instagram, but if I can't go to a YouTube where I can watch them on a full size screen, that makes it really challenging. But yeah, give me your best five seconds and then persistence. I want to recruit kids that want to be in Utah. At least that's where my program is. So I want to recruit kids that really want to be in Utah. So if a kid sends me one email and maybe I don't get to it, or maybe somehow it gets lost in the shuffle, I need them to send me to be persistent at. And send me multiple emails, let me know that they're definitely interested, at least for me. Some coaches might find that annoying, but I don't mind it. So from a video or recruiting video standpoint, so that maybe some of these guys can filter it down to their players as well. Absolutely. Five seconds, I guess it's kind of like an Instagram reel or a YouTube video. That's where it's got to be the most impressive. Yeah, I just need to see. And again, I think this is probably going to be a little different from every coach depending on what they're looking for. If they're looking for a blocker, if they're looking for a defender, I mean, I think every college coach is probably looking for blockers, but you know, but, I need to see something that's going to catch my eye. So Mark Burik (08:32.866) even if they're a smart defender, show me a nasty clip of a big layout, know, one arm dig and, and just something that's going to be like, Ooh, you know, that's going to catch my eye for that first five seconds. And one of the things that I'm surprised about too, how often I get emails from kids and I don't know who I'm even looking at. So there's no identification. It's getting much better in terms of like the label, like, Hey, I'm, you know, this girl wearing pink shorts and a green top or whatever. And that is huge for me because yeah, when somebody sends me I'm trying to go through all these videos and somebody sends me a clip and if I can't distinguish who I'm even looking at, that's really confusing and I'll be honest unless somebody is really standing out to me. I'm probably giving up. I'm probably not going to spend that much time exploring them unless there unless I see some kid on on there that's like, I gotta find out who this kid is, you know, so that's huge. That's that's a big one that I'm surprised that that more kids aren't. on top of in terms of just like, give me a good description of who you are or now they're getting better. Some will circle. The other thing I'll say too is like a lot of kids are using like different recruiting platforms, whether that's like sports recruits or some of these different things that I don't mind either. But if it if there's a big process to get to their video, I'll give up. I'll be honest. Like if I have to go through link to link to link. And then it's some different format and I can't, you know, it's in a box is this big that I'm trying to look at. I'll, I'll, I'll give up. some recruiting platforms are hurting their players in that way. And the fact there's like a login for a coach or like a library of movements. that what you're saying? Yeah, some, some do. Yeah. it redirects and then there's like a different kind of format. I don't see it all the time. oftentimes they'll still link to like a YouTube video, but yes, exactly. Sometimes some recruiting platforms, I would say actually hurt the player. It's better just to send me an email with a link to your Instagram and your YouTube. That's all I need, you know, rather than if I have to go through all these different things, it can definitely be time consuming and tedious. and I'll sometimes I don't have the time to go down that rabbit hole or if the link doesn't work, I'm not going to spend a whole bunch of time trying to find out why. Mark Burik (10:52.46) You know what I mean? Yeah. How important is somebody introducing themselves on the videos? Like, so you said first thing you should see, pop me with your most impressive place. Then maybe a hi, I'm this is this is what I do. Like, do you even pay attention to the high? is who I am. I know that I might have spent like 10 minutes trying to introduce myself when I was being recruited when it should have just been, okay, show me some bangs. Yeah, you know, it's interesting to just a little bit. I don't see a ton of that. And actually at this point where I don't get a lot of kids that are like on video, maybe introducing themselves beforehand, I would probably find that interesting. Anything that kind of sets them out. I did have one recruit a while ago that broke down some of their own video and was like they had like a dual screen up where they could see. what their video was doing. And then they were kind of giving me a breakdown of like, Hey, you know, I made a nice move here, or maybe, Hey, next time I want to do this a little bit better as I make through this move. And again, anything that kind of lets me connect with what they are, who they are as a player a little bit more that just helps them stand out is beneficial. And I think this is, I think we all know that as club coaches, finding creative, unique ways to do that. So again, if somebody sent me a video that's like, Hi, I'm so -and -so, and you know, this is a little bit about me and here's my top five plays or something like that. I'll be honest, that probably would intrigue me to where I'm like, okay, but if everybody was doing that, you know, maybe I wouldn't spend that time. And I think that probably comes with just different recruiting trends over time. you know, again, finding whatever it is to just get me to bite for five seconds will continue to then I'm going to then once I've bit, then I'm like, okay, now I want to see full film. Now I want to see you not only succeed, let's see how you move in the sand. Let's see how you fail. Let's see how you set. Let's see how you. you know, move up without the ball or away from the ball. some of those kinds of things are going to be my next, you know, my next step. Do you want to see, obviously you don't want to see all that blank dead time, in the beginning. So if they impress you early on and you want to keep watching, is it smart for them to then tag on at the end of the video, like a 40 minute full match with no ball time editing, no like. Mark Burik (13:12.024) clipped space so that you can see their attitudes? I would still say time is so valuable for me when I'm looking through it that, you know, sometimes they will descend unedited full clips and that's fine. Cause even with YouTube, you can just kind of fast forward. It is a little bit challenging, but if somebody wants to take the time and cut up full game film, but then condense it by removing any of that dead space, that's great too. Because at the end of the day, I still am going to hopefully get to watch them play live at some point. That's really going to be the goal. And even after, if they chopped it up and if I really wanted to see body language and attitude and some of those things, I would continue to ask for that secondary. if they, you know, five seconds, edited version, and then if I still wanted more, then I might go back to an athlete and say, Hey, you know, send me just unedited full game film. Let me watch it and see from there. Okay. Would it be a good idea? mean, I know not everybody knows. I don't know what this is. My daughter got me a cat shaped video game. I don't even know what that is. You shouldn't have video games anyway. what if, since people aren't really trained in YouTube for us, we always then link to the next video that you should watch on our channel to try to like, keep you interested in the YouTube algorithm helps us out. But if they said like a little onscreen graphic at the end of the video, like, Hey, I've also linked three full matches below here, just so that maybe you can just keep following the trail if you are interested. Is that a decent idea for kids? Yeah, that might be beneficial. I don't think that's a mandatory for me. You know, I mean, I do think that it's going to come down so different for each coach, but I don't know. you know, even if I am watching full game film or more, more full game, you know, more, you know, some kids will have different. I'll see this often on their Instagrams, which I like. but they'll even do this on their YouTube's where they'll say, Hey, here's highlights. even within their highlights, they might have it segmented into, know, how you can timestamp and go, okay, Hey, here's hitting, here's blocking, here's defense, you know, here's service, receive whatever that's beneficial. So I can just kind of click through to those different areas if I want to see something different. So like I said, highlights is great. Or even I'll see occasionally on YouTube where they'll have like just a separate clips of just like, Hey, blocking. Mark Burik (15:35.17) blocking highlights here as a separate film. And that's great too. I would say, yeah, the biggest things I look for on the YouTube, and I do really just like YouTube clips if I'm being honest, because again, I can just watch a full screen. Sorry, I my camera, I might be a little bit out of film here, but, or out of view. But yeah, if I can watch a full screen, that's huge. And then if they have just even different highlights. Full game film. Give me a good description of who it is and where they're playing and some of that kind of stuff is great on their links. But in terms of linking it to another one, I don't know. If I'm interested enough, I'll go continue to go further. I'll find them. To me, recruiting, guys, if you're trying to get recruited, it's marketing. Marketing is something that I've gotten better at knowing. spoon feeding everything many and multiple times is just great for everyone. So if you can include like even in our support emails, you know, we've talked with it with Matt who's response a lot of our support emails. If you say, yeah, go to our camps page. No, that's not the appropriate response. Our response is here's the link to our camps page. Click on it. and go to blah, blah, blah. So you always find the absolute easiest pathway for this person to continue looking at your players films. So I just want to take this back to time stamping on YouTube, because if I were a coach and I were recruiting, I would be a hundred but the same way. The fact that I can't fast forward through an Instagram post would kill me. I just like, all right, next month, come on, come on. And I don't want to spend even a minute. You guys know how, when you get bored in the middle of social media, like you just flip to the next thing. So, Instagram sure build it, but don't rely on it and get those videos on YouTube, which is exactly the same, but even on those YouTube clips, get an email that your kids don't use for anything else that you know, that either the adult is monitoring. Mark Burik (17:54.694) or doesn't have their personal information. We don't really want to put that out there. And I'm sure a lot of parents would, would be concerned about that. And rightly so, but how do we get in touch with you? Don't put your phone number in that YouTube description, put an email link to something link to more videos, other videos, as far as timestamps go timestamps on YouTube are very easy. All you have to write is zero colon. zero zero, and then right next to it, intro. Then, then you can timestamp everything else right after that. So then you could write like a one minute and 15 seconds. So one colon 15 seconds blocking highlights, well, defense highlights. And all you do is you just put them all on their own lines so that that's how timestamps works. And then Google and YouTube will actually create those little segments automatically for you when it uploads your video. So it's really easy to create those timestamps. And I didn't even think about how good and how nice that would be as a recruiting coach, Colby. So that could be nice. And then even if you do want to do like a full match, like we are saying, you you could put that as the giant end chunk. Somebody might watch a 45 minute video, most likely not. But again, if you like Colby says, if you catch them within the first five seconds of don't show me down ball free ball passing reps in your first five seconds, show me the absolute best banger plays that you have made. And then let's get into a very quick intro. And you could say like, I've actually written, you know, a little bit more about myself in the description. If you're interested in my, academics or anything like that, but Keep finding the easiest ways for this person to learn more about you and then a hundred percent for them to get back in touch with you. I know that most of it will come through an email. So they have that reply too, but you've asked them to click out of their email. They're now on your YouTube video. So that's where that next link also belongs. So if you guys are into marketing or like promoting your clubs or anything like that, spoon feeding the. Mark Burik (20:14.728) next step that you want them take and creating the easiest possible avenue through links, URLs, email addresses, what have you, even connecting your volleyball Instagram. Maybe they just want to swipe through and okay, I'll follow you on Instagram as well. Then it just creates those next steps. So just keep thinking, what is the next step I would want them to take if they were going to recruit me or that they have to take in order to recruit me? Maybe you even start, Ooh, this gets a little weird. I don't think. I would recommend that. don't know. What do you think about linking your future tournaments, Colby? Yeah, I think that's great. I think most of that does happen usually in emails, which is nice. I was going to say, too, with the Instagram. I mean, I actually do really like Instagram to be a little bit more personable. having me, you know, having a picture, a picture of you as just a player, whether that's and a lot of times players will do this when they, you know, metal in something, they'll post a picture with them and their partner. I really like that because it does help me put a face because sometimes as you're going through and you're watching these kids, it is hard. And maybe I've met the kid. Maybe I've seen him at a camp maybe. without that face with it, that personal connection, it's hard for me to make that connection. So I do like Instagram for that reason. I don't need that as much on the YouTube side. And then a lot of times, like I said, for us, I know on the indoor side of things, a lot of times they use the University Athlete. We don't have that as a recruiting tool. on the beach side. And so for me, sometimes I'll be watching a player live and I will just find them through their Instagram, through like the pool sheets or whoever's organizing the tournament. I'll see, okay, hey, this player's name is Sophia, whatever. I'll go right to her Instagram, look for her there. And then I'll even, if I can connect her right away, that's perfect. Cause then if I'm looking out to try and make some contact with them, maybe they haven't sent me an email, but having that good information that I can find out who they are on their Instagram is beneficial. And most of these guys do now have like beach or volleyball Instagrams, which I think is great. And then having like their own separate, you know, email like Mark mentioned, but yeah, that's perfect advice. Make it easy for me to find out as much information about this person and to be able to find more, more stuff for them is definitely key for sure. Cool. What from the coaches side, from club coaches, high school coaches? Mark Burik (22:42.772) What are things that they do, can do, will do, have done that you go, I'm not recruiting from your club. I don't want to converse with you. I'm definitely not recruiting this athlete just because I don't want to deal with this coach. So what are your, I guess, my X for turnoff. As the kids say these days, the coaches X, guess. Order your Ix from club directors and coaches. So we'll get to kids in a little bit or like what they're posting and how their parents then because we'll get to parents then we'll get to kids. But since we're in a coach meeting here, what do you think is the absolute Ix for coaches and club directors? You know, I love the opportunity to talk with coaches and directors. I think it's awesome because it does give me and I think most coaches and directors want to give me good information. And so far, most of the relationships that I've had the opportunity to interact with club coaches and club directors is is is very positive. Obviously, I know they want to have good relationships with me because then that helps get their kids recruited. I do think occasionally I've had coaches really want to push players, but and I'll bet I don't think make my program better and they might be the nicest kid on the planet and maybe they're a great glue kid that's going to. make my program better off the court and I do even value that. And so I'm interested in having that conversation, but we need to have a very clear conversation about what the value of that player is. So if a Cub coach comes to me and says, hey, look, like I know this kid, just be super honest and super transparent. Like, look, I know this kid might not look like the perfect example of a kid that's going to make your program better, but these are all the attributes they bring. That's great. But instead of being like, hey, you really need to watch this kid and they're struggling right now. And maybe it doesn't feel very honest. And I'm looking at this kid going like this kid's not going to come in and help my program be more successful. That kind of makes me turned off because now all of a sudden it's like, well, you're just trying to push what's best for you, which I appreciate you have a job to do. I'm trying to get your kids recruited, but I think even just being familiar with where my program is. And I know that's hard because there's a lot of programs out there, but I think sometimes coaches might. Mark Burik (24:58.254) You know, I know in Utah, we're not in that upper echelon in the top 10, top 20, but we're just outside that. So sometimes I think coaches might have a perception of a kid that might be a good fit for my program without actually knowing what my program is. And so maybe you talk to me, hey, where is your program? Let me tell you what kind of kid we're looking for because. I don't think that it's going to do me or you very good if I even if I take that kid and that kid comes in and is completely miserable here because they're not playing or or they're not helping the program again and every there are some kids that are fine with that role. I think that most truly aren't. So that would be the number one thing for me is like hey let's you know honesty transparency. Being maybe a little familiar with my program and like I said I know. Not everybody's going to do that, but let's have that conversation. So that's probably the biggest thing. Hmm. I really liked that. Is there an opportunity for college coaches to put that word out or does that become too maybe hurtful to the current players? Or it's like, yeah, we need a hitter. And then all of your players on your team are like, I'm a hitter, you know, and they know that like they're, you're looking for a replacement, but have you ever seen coaches who are putting on their own Instagram on their own YouTube. Like this is what we need for this year. We need somebody who's going to bring fire at all times. We honestly don't care if you can pass a volleyball and catch it. Like we need somebody who's going to fire up our gym. And that's the last piece of our recruiting puzzle. I've never seen a coach do that or a program do that. Your careers rely on it. Yeah, maybe. I don't know. I haven't really thought about it. It's a good, good angle. I think that most people in the volleyball space are pretty open to having, know, most of us are volleyball nerds and enjoy chatting about volleyball. so I think, I would assume most college coaches are more than willing to sit down and have a conversation about, what kind of athlete are you actually looking for? You know, how does this player look? I know I've had lots of Mark Burik (27:17.71) club coaches and club directors come up to me and have those conversations. And I always appreciate those conversations because we might not connect right away in terms of the player that they're trying to steer me to. Maybe they're saying, here's a player you should check out. And I'm like, I don't know if that player is going to come help. But I think again, and I'm willing to explore all of those different relationships. Even I feel like sometimes, hey, give me a Give me a reach for me and assure thing just like players are looking like hey this school you know here's a kid who might not Utah might not be on the radar but you know like I think they might be a good fit and worth it worth a conversation. I like having that conversation too like knowing like hey this is a player because there's definitely those players that I'm reaching to get and there's those players that are reaching to come to me you know and so I mean the perfect one is where it's everything is aligned although I don't know that that happens all that often you know so. A club coach or club directors like, hey, here's a kid that might be a sleeper that you might not know that can help your program. And here's an obvious kid that I think might be an amazing fit for you. And maybe that's a stretch, but you should throw your hat in the ring. And I definitely like that. Do college coaches keep their own email newsletter lists of a ton of club and high school coaches and say, This is what we're currently looking for. instead of a YouTube or a social media posts where it's like, it could, you know, your players stat and maybe they get disappointed or lose some confidence. Sure. think it would be a smart idea. And is it legal by NCAA for you to, sorry, she's, she's on the mic. is it legal for you to say, Hey, this is where our programs at 200 coaches who are on my email list. Here's what we're looking for in the next. in 2025 26 and 27 out of our recruits yeah i doubt that it really happens that way so far i think it probably happens on a more personal level because and i do think that just the more year -round and and i think that you start you know we realize like we're probably recruiting most of our kids like if i'm actively out there recruiting i'm recruiting most of my kids in the west you know that's just it it makes the most sense i mean we've had kids from florida we've had kids from alabama you know but Mark Burik (29:41.696) And those and we are definitely interested and even I know earlier mentioned, I mean, we're still we've yet to recruit an international kid. I think in the next couple of years that hopefully will start to become on our radar. And I think some of that has to do just with each individual program needs. And I guess that could possibly happen. And certainly, think college coaches, we continue to look to really establish those relationships with with our club coaches and club directors. So it is nice that when it's like, hey, I know I've got this relationship with this college director that I can go to and say, hey, this is what I'm kind of looking for. Hey, I've kept an eye on this kid. And again, I like when a college coach will tell me straight. Yeah, that kid's not, you know, that they're not interested in going to a cold climate. Cool. You out Utah, we get cold. I don't want to waste my time. So most of that kind of happens a little bit more organically in terms of just through those like natural conversations, because, you know, I guess it's kind of hard. Yeah. I mean, we all I think all colleges are going to say, hey, give me the best possible athlete with the most skills possible. We want them, you know, like in every school does, you know. So for me, I'm always looking kind of for that diamond in the rough. Maybe that kid that loves to ski and snowboard that has a, you know, spend a couple of winters in Park City in Utah. And, you know, so usually the club coaches start to know that and they know, hey, Colby, I've got this kid. She's an athlete. She can ball. Mark Burik (31:10.402) family and in Provo and you know and and and that's that's that's where it really kind of happens the best I think. So have you ever outlined the way that a a business would this is my client like a like a client or customer persona like they love this their attitude is this this is our system we know that they have this type of system and our coaches personalities. you know, cause some, some coaches are hard knocks, like you've got to have a player that can get into that system. Some are coaches are a little more like we are a family and that's the most important thing about us wins or not. so have you ever defined your ideal quote unquote, customer slash player? Yes. yes and no. I would say. Mostly no, I think we are still a new enough program and I think there's probably some programs out there that have already started to kind of hone in on what that looks like a little bit more so and whether they have that out formally written out. I think even for us, we are still kind of a newer program. We just had our first winning season last year. We're definitely continuing to climb up the rankings in terms of, I mean, that's just like true volley, but I think we were ranked, you know, 35th or something last year and. And I'll be honest, think even for us at this point, for what it's worth is we're still kind of determining what our culture and what our identity really truly is. And like I said, now that I'm a part of the recruiting, I think I get to add my spin on what I'm looking for in the past. It's been, you know, Coach Wicker is the head coach there and she's kind of, you know, had her for sure kind of main target type of athlete. But I think that continues to evolve. And the other thing that's really exciting is these kids are coming in. With so much more experience and they're getting better and better every year and that's testament to the level of coaching and information that's out there. The nuances, the subtleties from indoor to beach and some of those things. It's really exciting to see that and so. As they as the athletes are getting better, I fortunate enough that I think we can also start recruiting a certain type of of. Athlete in terms of what we're looking for in terms of work ethic in terms of culture in terms of understanding. Mark Burik (33:34.018) can offer our athletes is pretty exciting. So we're just kind of starting to really, I think, continue to narrow in what a Utah player is. And I think all programs probably do that. And some of the programs that are just a little bit more established probably are a little further along in that path. And we're still somewhere kind of in the middle, I guess. Does that make sense? Yeah. Great. I'll keep rapid firing all the curious questions that I have, but guys, as they come to your mind, please like write them down and we'll start tackling them one by one. And of course, you get on the mic in just a sec. But, let's go to, Hey, by the way, well, what year is an 18 years? She doesn't cry this much. She just had a tough day of lifting. things that. parents can do that you immediately notice and that you go, nope. Well, yeah, there's definitely some pretty, I guess some pretty obvious ones. I'm sure most of you coaches and club directors know like, you know, as soon as the parents start flying off the handle yelling at refs and you know, or especially at other kids like that's pretty much I'm out. You know, like I just don't want that. That's just a culture and I do believe that. Oftentimes, unfortunately, from my experiences that the Apple truly doesn't fall too far from the tree over a long enough time. You know, I do think that most kids start out pretty genuine, nice, good kids. If they're just hearing and being bombarded with that from the parents over a long enough time, they can't help but buy in to whatever that is. And so, yeah, if I see a parent just act in an absolute fool, that will. I don't want to recruit that kid. parents not. And I think this is a funny one, too, especially on the beach side. I think that it's not always as a parent where that beach coach sometimes I'm watching the court. Mark Burik (35:40.45) from three courts away. And so the parent, the player might not even notice that I'm watching that player from three courts away, but I am watching how they're interacting. And so that would be my first obvious thing. The next little thing that will happen occasionally is a parent might casually, you know, they, we don't talk to parents and due to NCAA rules, I can't have lots of interactions while I'm actually actively recruiting. I can say hello and that kind of stuff, but. kind of make some excuses for, for child. if they do get the opportunity to say hello to me, or maybe I'm walking to the convenience store to grab a soda or a Gatorade or whatever. And, yeah, Sally over there, you know, suffering from whatever, you know, and it's like, yeah, that's great. But as soon as I hear the parent make excuses, then I just can't help but feel like, We've got a whole list of excuses that are just probably attached to this player. say, parents tell me hello, saying nice things about Utah or asking me a question about Utah. I'm always game to do that. I enjoy those kind of interactions. as soon as, yeah, excuses is something that I just, and again, I think that's probably most coaches. I'm sure you guys can all relate to that. I don't enjoy that, but I think the same things that you don't enjoy and I've been in your shoes and dealing with those parents that are obnoxious and that, you know, yeah, those are the same ones that I don't really like to deal with as much either. And I think that's. But I think it's it's also a fine line of it's tough. You know, we're going through some. You meet some people who. You kind of out loud, you say something that's a pet peeve because they're representing exactly that, but you just kind of put it into the world. And then that person who you were actually targeting, they're like, yeah, God, I hate that. like, this is you. So it's like, how do we hold a mirror to ourselves to say like, okay, you know, I'm supporting my kids. I'm, I'm, I want them to feel good. I don't want them to feel good about. Mark Burik (37:58.914) failure. but I also don't want to like hammer them into the ground. So every now and then it slips out of my mouth that like, Hey guys, you know, we had a long travel day, so it was a tough tournament. I know that you guys are all sore and even slight things like that. You start going down the trail of like, Hey, that's an excuse to not perform. And I think as coaches, we've got to limit ourselves to that, it's definitely easier. Sometimes you can recognize the type of player, like I was helping out DJ Klasnik, Marine's fiance this morning, and he's a tougher mentality, you know, he's got that Serbian mentality where everything kind of turns into like, no, you just need to tell me what's not good enough, like, I'll fix it. And that's very different than I'd say like, a current American mindset. where it's like, don't, no, no, no, don't, don't hurt me, build me up at all times. So there's a different way that you can and probably should talk to different athletes, in order to do it. But at no point should you put an obstacle and excuse a reason for why somebody can't in front of them. You can just show them what needs to be done and what can be done. But holding up a mirror to yourself and the words that you say and how you say them as a coach, depending on what program you're in. I really recommend that thing that we had in our sessions. If you guys haven't seen the sessions yet, they are in your library. But one of them is talking to your partner and it asks you to send a text to five people who you have played with in the past or currently playing with and say, Hey, can you please be Grossly honest with me, I'm going through a personal development program. Can you tell me the three worst parts of playing with me or things that you think I need to repair? And if you're a head coach, this is scary. If you're a club director, this is scary. But without internal feedback from your people who see you every day and without opening that up in a constructive Mark Burik (40:20.782) way. No, no, no, no, Mackenzie, that is way too big without opening up in, a constructive way. You're not going to get feedback on yourself. Like if you haven't been to a coaching seminar, you guys are already in the 1 % because you've signed up for something that is improving your coaching or at least gives you the opportunity to learn. Most people don't. remember, okay, you like pineapples. get it. I remember walking into a, a club coach when I was 22. And of course I was like a, you know, kind of cocky 22 year old. thought I knew everything after division one volleyball. And one of the coaches statements was, Hey, Mark, I've been doing this for 30 years. You can't just walk in here and tell me what's going on. And I was like, you're absolutely right. But the, I've been doing something for X amount of time proves no competence. Right? So like just because you've been doing something for a long time, If you haven't taken a course, if you haven't sat in another coach's, sorry guys, if you haven't sat in another coach's practice, if you haven't asked somebody to come to your practice and be like, what did you like? What did you hate about that practice? Man, what a tool that is. Like open yourself up for a second, just the same way we do with our players to get hammered, to say, not like that. open yourself up to, get that critique, right? And, if you haven't, if you haven't had some other coach that you trust and like, watch your practice and go, if you were a club director, what would you like? What would you not like? What would you want us to keep doing? That's such a massive tool that you can do. so it's, we want to be all these great things that Colby's saying, and we will. I want to make sure that we're not making excuses or not doing something or phrasing too much. I know that one of the top coaches in New York state, he was my high school coach. He takes 20 minute sessions during his practices to talk. And I go, we just lost 20 minutes of reps. I know this is your, your wrap up, right? It's like at the end of practice, but if they're still in your gym, we just lost 20 minutes of opportunity. If you're going to keep us here. Mark Burik (42:43.374) And that could be, you know, another 40, 60 reps per kid. And if you annualize that, if you're practicing four times a week, and then you analyze that, how many hours did you lose by your storytelling? Of course, yeah, we can do the like the whole team bonding conversation to go in the face of that. But moral of the story, if you want me, us, here, to look at one of your practices, upload them, record them. Let's watch some of them together. Let's use one or two weekly meetings to say like, hmm, here's something I would change about this drill, about this rotation. If you don't want to share it with us, fine, but find somebody who, mind that you really trust and say, help me. You know? Tell me what's wrong. Tell me your two favorite parts. Tell me your three least favorite parts. And that's what we do at our camps as well. You know, I have that heart to heart at the end and I go, please, when you email us, like if we didn't give a five star experience to you, tell me the three things that we do wrong or that you think we should do better. Then come again and let me try to earn that five star experience. And that's, that's from a more like a company thing, which I think more people should do just allow and invite feedback. But if you can get somebody to watch your practice or somebody like an assistant coach who you are typically a leader of be like, what am I missing? Where are my blind spots? how do I hold a mirror up to myself? So I encourage you guys all to do that. And I encourage you, if you want us to look at a full practice, upload it. Get me some video, share it with me on drive and we'll use a screen share here. And I'll say like, okay, yeah, this is a great drill. This is going well. We obviously can't watch a full two hour practice, but we can see clips and basic, drill design and see if there's any ways to optimize it or if lines are too long, or if there's too much downtime in between rotations, or if you thought that your people got confused because there's a complicated rotation and next position type thing. Mark Burik (44:59.436) Okay. We've got a lot of that in the three day camp manual and in the complete, the complete coaches guide and practice plans, which you guys all have access to. You guys can print it out just like me. I'm constantly editing it, but if you want us to look at one more one week, please let's, let's use these meetings and do it. Colby last one. So parents that make excuses or come and I guess talk to you too much about why their kid isn't. parents who are, I guess, overly negative in their reactions, you're looking for because you assume, and I can be an absolute anecdotal supporter of this. When I used to go around the country for gold medal squared and coach their indoor camps. We would go with host families. would live with host families. And if the adults had a certain way of talking, if one of the moms offhandedly said like, yeah, well, you know, some of the players on the team are not really into it. Not with it. A hundred percent of the time their kids were direct mirrors of their parents. And even like adults are better at hiding it. Kids don't have that level of a social experience to say something kind of digging, but hide it. So the kids were actually more negative than the parents slight negativity, right? So something to look for for your parents. And the last one I'll say is absolute turnoffs for players and kids. Colby, can you take this one? Yeah. So I guess it probably kind of goes along with the same kind of thing. Is yeah again excuses or just that negative and again obviously I. We've all been there, been frustrated dealt as players as coaches, whatever, but again when you know whether that's parent where that's player is not only making excuses, but they're kind of projecting and it happens a lot in the beach world and even I can honestly we probably all been there where it was like I we probably could have won that match for my partner can set out. Mark Burik (47:13.088) Or whatever that's just such and I'm sure you guys all know this, you know, as soon as I start hearing that stuff, it's just like, you know, like it's always, you know, that one's just a tough one to, know, like, you know, we're a team, it's a hundred percent of team. We win as a team. We lose as a team. Doesn't matter if I didn't see a single serve. I've got to find a way to help my partner be their best. How can I do that? So again, when I hear that the player. parent, those kinds of things. The parents felt that was one other thing I was going to add on the parent side. It's like when I hear the parent also bad mouthing the partner, it just makes me go like, you're bad mouthing the partner to me. Like, you know, that's, that's just not, that's just not a good look. And like I said, I think players won't fall too far from that tree in terms of the parents constantly bad mouthing the partner. Yep. Partner couldn't set out. Well, why, why are you playing with them? You know, and, and you're not a team player with them, then you're probably not going to be a team player with me. And that's, that's a, that's a big one. I know one thing I wanted to add on with Mark and this is kind of now bouncing around a little bit, but the other part about just that excuses kind of thing. And I know for me, even as a coach, I know I had to kind of really start narrowing in on on what my standards were. And yes, and I can appreciate we've all been there where you know, maybe there is some kind of. Excuse and we we played late and pool. We were the very last game people in the gym and we had to wake up super early me back and. And maybe we weren't at our best. And that's legitimate. But I think that once I started really locking in on what my core values are and saying, and really, I think as coaches, we want to give a lot of variety to our players and to our kids. this, whether this is the juniors level or from my level, I want to come in and have all the right things to say to them all the time. But once I started narrowing in and having a few of my core values become consistent, then it let me always go back to that. and create a better culture. And so, yes, I can say, hey, we are learners. We are always learning. We are going to always be learning. And yes, we did play last. And yes, we had to go up early. And this was a challenge for us. And yeah, you could use that as an excuse. But we use this as an opportunity to learn. And I think that spreads not only to our players, to our parents. Obviously, you can't control the parents and ultimately even really the players. But I know for me, that just kind of made Mark Burik (49:30.254) And that's something that I continue to evolve, but helped create that culture that is so important. So, and most of you guys probably already have some insight on that, but I know when I stopped trying to do too many things and became a little bit more consistent, that actually really helped me know how to navigate through the different challenges because some things are very black and white in terms of how you handle situations as a club coach or a club director, but in those gray areas. If I can always go back to like what my core values, what's the most important to me and then how I handle those situations with my players that that just helped kind of clarify some of those answers for me. So yeah, another little kind of nugget there, I guess. So awesome. You're full of them. Yeah. Full of nugget. Full of it. That's pretty. So I know Travis, you had a question, but if you guys want to open up your mics and If you guys have any questions for Colby or of course us, more than welcome to ask. But Travis, what was your question since you're the one? First off, just apologies coming in late. I was just off the sand with my juniors that I'm training. So yeah, apologies to miss half that session there, Colby, but I'll definitely watch the replay and check what I missed. I'm just going to add on in terms of touching base with what can we improve rather than looking at those excuses? What did we do well and what could we improve for the next time? I feel like that's a really good way to frame things. yeah, then we can actually highlight and celebrate those little victories, but also recognize, hey, we always got beat on that cut shot or yeah, we just weren't peeling quite right today. So yeah, let's focus on that one for the next one. So yeah, just a little addition there. I also want to just point out this from a coach. direction. If you guys are again in companies or have your own, you'll recognize this maybe from your own playing careers and coaching careers. But those problems like Travis's, like Travis said, they come about, but you still have to have a direction that moving in. And even if there was a reason that you lost, but it is outside of the direction that you're headed in. Mark Burik (51:49.14) or outside your season or monthly plan. Okay, that wasn't part of our journey at this moment. So don't attach yourself to all those million negatives or two or three points lost because of a certain shot. Like it's not the time to just completely go in a different course where you set the course at the beginning, you know, or you're headed, you should have a plan and you should have a season plan. Well, if you're a high school or a college coach, you should have, and a club director, you should have a four year plan. Then you should have your season plans, your monthly plans, and then you will it down to your weekly and your practice plans. Right? So even if you lost for a certain reason, don't go off course and say, I got to fix that. I got to fix that. I got to fix that. Right? That's, it's going to be too painful for your players. It's going to be, Anti rewarding because they'll never feel like anything is improving if you're only focusing on the negative and then you try to work on something. The only time you're going to see vast improvement is when you spend a lot of time fixing one problem. And if you can take the right stats or you design the correct drills to show your players that they are in fact, improving over time at what you're working on. That becomes like. Yeah. look, we are climbing that mountain. We are getting better at this. Cool. And that's in our design. So if you're working on, know, doing nothing but being aggressive and hitting hard, but you hit three or four high lines out and that was the match or match point. That's not the point, right? The point is, well, did we hit hard? No. So I'm not going to fix your high line because we needed to hit hard. we went off the track of what we're trying to do. So from a player. Who went through it and was like, I missed a cut shot on match point. And then you spend the next week hitting cut shots because that pain is still fresh. Like, it's not what we do. We set the course for our season and we, and we do that. And same thing for, for companies. There's a million directions that we can go, with our company, but it's, I've got to remind myself, Hey, we've got to bring this back to focus. What are we trying to do? What's the course for this season? Mark Burik (54:14.838) Okay. Yeah. All right. So we're not getting enough hits on YouTube. Is that what we're focused on this, this year? No. Great. So that eases my pressure. Like, all right, I don't need need need YouTube. We'll pick that up next year. Right. So just a reminder of you guys to not get attached, acutely in match to the negatives or the lost points that just happened. If somebody hits a cut shot and your partner or your kid doesn't dig it, don't teach them how to dig a cut shot right there. Unless. That's what you were working on for that week or that month. Right. That's the time where you can offer that feedback. But when you just aim your feedback in all different directions, attaching to only the negatives, you are not being a good coach. You're not being a captain who's steering the boat in any direction. You're just chasing random birds flying around the Pacific. All right. Any other questions that you guys might have for us or for Colby or for anyone here if you just want to throw it to the group. Mark Burik (55:20.894) Yeah, actually, I'll jump on one more. If we do film one of our coaching sessions, we obviously don't have the same sort of equipment that you guys have for like getting mic'd up or anything. Would we just come in and then kind of present it or tell us, I guess, have kind of a Q &A as we're presenting that session? Let me know in advance. know, most of you guys have my DMs and my emails. Just be like, hey, this week, can we take a look at my practice? Then make sure You share it with me on Google. I'll make sure that I did download it. So it can fast forward as much as we want. Or if you want, you could throw it onto YouTube as an unlisted. and then we could use a little fast forward buttons, but yeah, you don't need to be mic'd up. we'll look at general design if we want, and then I'll offer the feedback I would give in certain moments, but more, Hey, what's the structure of this? Are, are the lines excessive? Is there any way to chop those lines and get more reps? Right. did I'll probably look at your guys demonstrations and explanation of drills and we'll sit there and we'll time it and we'll say, how long did it take you to explain this drill? Then take the players to understand it. And then for you to actually. You know, from the, from the handbook that I gave you guys, we don't explain and then demonstrate, or we don't only explain, demonstrate while explaining so that they have the visual learners taken care of and the auditory learners taken care of. it's, it's a really good way to practice because everybody looks at each other after an explanation anyway. And if you're the type of coach that's always making up random drills, you're also going to cause a little bit of. downtime without reps. So find those drills that you love and then just figure out ways to insert the thing that you're working on. So if we're working on transits and defense, Hey, we're still playing King and Queen of the court, but I'm just going to start King and Queen of the court by hammering a ball over the net at somebody. Right. Or, you know, start with a, with a trouble set. So we can run the same drills over and over and over and just have a different focus or initial ball. Mark Burik (57:44.276) or reward or a bonus point for if they accomplish the thing that we're working on. Anyway, yeah, record the whole practice, put it on video, and then tell me in advance. And then it'll give me a little interlude to say, like, OK, great. We can look at this practice. Thanks. So for my session coming up on Thursday, to be little bit composition to awareness. I assume that library that I get, is there any questions off the top? How do you grade that too? From your connection, I didn't get any of that. I don't know if anybody else Yeah, I was breaking up. OK. I'll ask that one later. Okay, cool. Yeah. Ask it in the group, the Facebook group or the community, and then we'll throw it in there. Hey, I just wanted to give a shout out. know, D3 Beach is growing quite a bit, growing pretty fast. We're new program in Virginia, but D3's generally only have really, really small budgets. So My recruiting budget for the year is $1 Don't laugh, Colby. UBS prize, mine's not much better. So I don't get to go out and see the kids as much as I would like. I'm also head coach of the indoor women's. So I get pretty busy. So with that small budget, with my time restraints, Mark Burik (59:31.534) video, I mean, I recruited 16 girls this year and I saw nine of them play and the rest of the recruiting I did was off of their videos. And then I had them come out for a visit, watched them play a little bit and, that, that was it. So I rely heavily on, on coaches and I have coaches that, When I'm recruiting a girl, say maybe in Washington state, that I reach out to and I, and I asked them, Hey, what, know, what do you know about this, this kid and what do you know about their family? because, I don't get paid enough to deal with, with, but Colby's laughing because he knows exactly what I I don't get paid enough to deal with, with having to try to coach. their daughter and then have them try to coach me how to coach my daughter. anyways, D3 is growing. I just wanted to put that out. No athletic money, but good academic money. Great experience. It's a really well -rounded. Most of them are liberal arts schools. So it's been a cool experience. I've been at the D1 indoor. at a few schools and the D3 model is kind of a cool thing. We get more of a relationship. It's less of an employer -employee relationship and it's more of a mentor relationship. it's been kind of cool. Anyways, I just wanted to throw that out and say that video, all of those things that we were talking about are really important. that getting me hooked in the first 30 seconds is pretty important. Awesome. Thanks, John. Yeah, I think some homework that we can do just from this meeting, if you guys are interested, find somebody to watch or observe your practice, or if you're assistant coach, use them. Use them for feedback. What do you think we could or should do more of? This is not me telling you that we're going to make changes. Mark Burik (01:01:55.286) I just want to hear your honest, open thoughts for the improvements that you think we could make or that we should do. It's so valuable to at least open that up. Plus it makes them feel more valued, right? As an assistant coach to say, like, they actually want to hear my thoughts. They actually want to use my brain and instead of me just being there underling who can feed balls. some of them will be. Open to it. Some won't still soften it and some will come on a little hard, but it's still, it's up to you to find the value in it. And, so that's one piece of homework. If you guys can do that, find somebody to observe or ask for feedback from your, from your people. And then the other one is I think, you know, encouraging your players to say like, Hey, we did talk to one coach. We think a YouTube channel is something nice, easy. free and the first five, 10, 15 seconds of your video absolutely have to pop. And we have to see the player and definitely know the player that's making the best possible place. and then from the last part, if you're a college coach, get your Rolodex and be a marketer, get your Rolodex of those club coaches and have them under like club coach Colby Burleson, right? Club coach Lee Moran club coach Josh Cortese, right? And that way you can find them easily and hopefully you can get their emails and then you could send one big email when you're looking for a specific type of player, because even if those coaches don't have them, all volleyball people are friends with all volleyball people. They'll be like, I don't, but you know, my buddy's been talking about this one player he has for awhile, so she might fit that. and I think Just all of us having a little personal newsletter type Rolodex for where we want to send our players or where we want to get our players from, from a marketing business outside of the coaching standpoint. I think that could have immense value from some of you. So maybe start considering just putting together in one easy place to find it or an Excel sheet. All of the email addresses of coaches that you've talked to and that you enjoy talking to. Mark Burik (01:04:19.414) Whether that's up in the college ranks or down from college to a high school and club coaches. And it, will become an absolute asset for you. That is your lead source, right? Your generation for finding those people. So some little combo ideas for you. I really want to thank you for, being put on the spot and creating a. Podcast episode. I hope you don't mind, but I think we kept it clean and we did a good job of creating information. So if you don't mind, I'd love to turn this into a podcast. think it'll be hyper valuable for a lot of people. And then if you also don't mind, I'll add your contact and your program links to that video when we do it. Absolutely. Yeah, no, it's great. It's been a great chat with you guys. Yeah. Any club coaches out there? I'm always am interested in networking and, love to learn more about your programs and your players. So, yeah, feel free to reach out with me to me. Mark's got my personal contact information. You can find me on Instagram and through our website or anything like that. So yeah, I always, always love that side of things. Absolutely. Thanks Mark. Man. course. Enjoyed it. Yeah. And if you guys are listening to the podcast or this YouTube episode, thank you so much for watching. There are tons of links in the description. And what a great episode that we just had impromptu from our complete Coach Academy meeting, which you guys can find at betterbeach .com forward slash coach. You can join, be a part of it be a part of our inner circle.