Maddie Anderson Has Her Spark Back

This has been a long time coming. You've been chatting about doing the pod for a while.

I know. Yeah, glad you're here back in town. Me too. It's so nice to be back.

And this is actually first podcast we've done like out of the dungeon.

At Florida State, a lot of time we'll go like team room or Brooks office and have like

Ossiel and Renegade as a background. Yeah, I like it's good. Thank you for getting me out of the dungeon.

It's nice to be inside. Are you a favor? No, never.

One question I had for you so that like the first time I heard your name in the first like year,

it was always Maddie Mae, Maddie Mae. I feel like you've dropped the Mae. Oh my gosh.

Now I feel, because now it's always Maddie Anderson. And I wanted to ask forever,

because every time I looked up your name, it was always Maddie Anderson. Yeah.

But people always were like, oh, it's Maddie Mae. Yeah.

And so I never knew. It's a funny story. So Mae's my middle name. Okay.

M-A-Y or is it an M-A-E? M-A-Y. Okay. So Mae is my mom's maiden name.

She didn't change her name so she put Mae as all of the kids' middle names.

No kidding. Yeah. So every my sister and brother both have Mae as their middle names as well.

But we all have two middle names. So my full name is Madeline Matilda Mae Anderson.

Okay. Yeah. So she just went all maze in the middle. Yeah. She just wanted to,

wanted to include that last name, which I don't blame. I mean, she's an incredible woman.

That's funny. One of my buddies growing up, all of them, it was like four boys.

They were all named Ezekiel. So they all went by their middle name.

Oh, that's pretty cool. Yeah. Which I'd never heard of before. Yeah.

Yeah, that's fine. I'm glad we straightened out the Maddie Mae. Yeah.

So do you, like, did you go by Maddie Mae? I guess it gets kind of confusing because my Instagram is Maddie.me.

Okay. But I just, it just goes, you know, it kind of sounds good, the iteration there.

But I probably, I typically say Maddie Anderson. I mean, on documents and stuff, playing international,

it's always going to be Madeline Anderson. Got it. It's my official name.

Would you go by floor state? I think Maddie Anderson. Okay. Yeah.

When did you first start here? I've always, like, it's always weird with COVID.

Yeah. I'm sure you were in that COVID era. I was in the COVID era. So I came in 2019 in fall 2019

and then started our season. I could keep credit for, I think, three tournaments.

And then COVID happened. Everything shut down. So then we didn't really have the rest of the season.

And so my first official NCAA was in 2020. I guess 2021. So fall 2020, spring 2021.

Got it. Yeah. Do you miss it? I do. Yeah. I miss it a lot. It's so nice to be back.

It's so nice to have the familiarity and like the family lifestyle vibe up here.

It's pretty, it's pretty individual on the pro level. So. Yeah. Well, how much I'm always curious about this

because especially when we are recruiting internationally, like, I try to express how valuable college development is.

How much do you think, like, playing in college, having Brooke and Nick? And who were your assistants? Jason?

Jason was there for a bit. Summer. Summer was there for one year. Yeah. Nick came.

Bower was there. Atlanta was there. Yeah. We shoveled through a lot of few people. Yeah.

I think, yeah, my last year, Bower was the assistant. Yeah. Cause then she was there for a year. And then I took over after Brooke.

We never overlapped. I know. I'm glad I at least got just a little brief coaching with you in Hamburg.

Oh my gosh. I know that was awesome. That was so fun. But how much do you think playing here in college prepped you to become a professional?

Oh gosh. I mean, a ton. I think a lot of that goes to Brooke and Nick being our coaches. Like they are, they know the pro level.

They understand what it takes to, you know, move to the next level. And so I think having a taste of that in college was super, super helpful.

But before I went to FSU, I didn't lift. I didn't condition. I just practiced and played a bunch of tournaments and played a lot of volleyball.

So my volleyball IQ was good. But everything else that, you know, supports you to become a really good pro athlete.

I experienced here. And I didn't have that. I don't think I would realize how necessary it is.

Was that a tough adjustment? Cause I feel like when kids come here who haven't lifted before, haven't done like,

cause you're treated like professional athletes. Like we're just talking about it in the locker room. Like having the rehab center over there.

More and the lifting and the coaching and the academics. Like you're a professional athlete, essentially.

Like, but that's kind of a shock to the system when you come from like, oh, I'm going to play a junior's tournament.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. We had Tosh, our freshman year as the strength coach.

She was fantastic. Probably the best strength coach I've ever had. I mean, she's awesome. And actually peel was her intern.

So we had Tosh and peel insane duo. No kidding. It peels your intern.

Peels the intern. She was so good. So she, yeah, they both were super intense.

I mean, they loaded up that bar very heavy. And it was definitely an adjustment.

I had a hard time walking up those stairs down to the locker room and back out to the course, you know, walking up stairs to class was really rough.

But I mean, I loved every second of it. I felt myself getting better. I felt myself getting more athletic and stronger.

I was quite the twig coming into college. So, yeah, I mean, it was, it was a really good experience. But very difficult.

When did you like embrace it? Because I feel like a lot of times people will, is this necessary?

Like, when did you kind of buy in and embrace like, this is going to make me into the player I want to become?

Yeah. To be honest, my freshman year, I was pretty, I was, I was really scared.

So I didn't question anything. I was like, all right, this is what everyone else is doing. I don't have any room to say anything.

So I feel like I bought in immediately. And that's not to say, you know, maybe I didn't, I didn't question here and there.

You know, I was like, oh, my body's really tired. I had some back problems for a while there.

So there were some moments where I was like, is this really necessary? But I think in the end, like, if I reflected on that question, it was always, yeah, this is going to make me better.

So I'm just going to put myself through it.

Yeah. And if you, like if you continued, stand on the same like kind of pretty steady weight training, nutrition, all that that you've gotten out of college. Now that you're on your own.

Yeah. Yeah. I had a period after college that I didn't really know what to do.

Because you're kind of just thrown into figuring it all out for yourself.

Finding a strength coach, finding like recovery centers, figuring out how much practice I need to do.

Because it's all up to me. I don't, you don't have people telling you how much you should do with what you should do with what you should do.

Exactly. So it was really just me, myself and I, and slowly but surely ended up getting a really good group around me.

So now I feel like I have all of the resources that I need, but it was for sure an adjustment when you're coming from a place like this.

Yeah. Actually, a lot of, um, we'll do these fan question episodes like once a month.

And one of the most common ones that we'll get is like, what are the steps I need to take to become a professional football player?

And you're like, I feel like at the perfect phase to explain it because you're pretty fresh out of college.

You've built yourself up to the point where you and Elena are in the main draw of challenge events right now.

And you're going to be in the ADP qualifier. Like, what advice would you give to say our Florida State girls are like, I want to play pro.

Yeah. How can I become a Maddie Anderson?

It's a great question. I would say the first thing that was really helpful to me was playing internationally well in college.

So you get that experience of traveling on your own and, you know, playing other teams and playing people you've never seen or heard of before.

And then also having the sports system of your school behind you as well. And like, I mean, Nick and Brooke were so good about giving me intel on how to make this travel work and, you know, how to make going to India doable.

So I think that really helped me ease into the pro life.

But then once I was graduated, I think the biggest change for me was getting a strength coach who I trust and who understands beach volleyball.

Because there are so many strength coaches out there who are great, but maybe they're not beach volleyball specific.

And finding someone, my strength coach is great. Her name is Flavia. I shout out Flavia. She's from South Florida and she is phenomenal.

She is conditioning my conditioning coach, my strength coach, all agility. I mean, and having her and making sure that my foundation is set really helps for this coming year.

Yeah. That's one of the biggest things I think adjustment wise that people struggle with out of college because here you have your team.

Yep. And everyone's already in place for you where you've got Miguel at academics. You got Piel doing your training.

Yeah. You got me, Brooke and Nick doing your coaching. You can come in for film. Then you get out and caught in the real world.

Right. And you're like, hold on. Where do my coaches go? Where's my trainer? Who's telling me when I'm playing and where and when we're flying in the hotel?

Like, you got to do it on your own. Exactly. Like, how important has that been to you to like to go out and build your own team again?

Yeah. I mean, it's been, it's been a challenge, but having that team is really key. I mean, not only Flavia, she's great, but our volleyball coach, Jake McNeil, he's been so awesome.

I love Jake. And I know Jake's the best. He's, he's great. And so we've kind of developed our own little team down in St. Pete Tampa with Elena and I and then some other players in the area.

And having that and trying to kind of assimilate what it's like here was also really key for the adjustment.

Because I feel like a lot of people, especially, I guess like the girls in California, mostly do partner stuff and like don't really have an individual coach.

But having Jake has been really great. And I think just having someone who has a plan for you instead of trying to figure out on your own what your own plan is going to be.

It's been really supportive. What's like a day to day like for you right now? That's a good question. Yeah. It's busy. Very busy. So I actually, I also work at a financial advising firm part time in Clearwater.

And they are great. Love them so much. And so I work part time in the afternoons on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. So I'll tell you what my Monday is like. Yeah. So Mondays, I'll get up around seven. I'll eat breakfast at my house.

And then I'll drive over to St. Pete, which is a really practice practice with all the girls. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do you really want to?

So a practice from 830 to 1030. And then after practice, I drive over to Kim Hilldrith's house. She's the best. She's like my second mom. She's awesome veteran for sure. So I've learned a lot from her.

But anyways, I go over to her house and I shower and change for work because unfortunately my house is the complete opposite direction for practice.

So St. Pete is kind of on the way to my work. So then I'll shower, eat lunch, hang out with Kim for a bit, eat her sourdough bread.

Oh, she's a phenomenal baker. Yeah. Nice. So when he's been on the homemade sourdough for a few years. Oh my gosh. I'll walk into her house and she'll have like a fresh piece of sourdough, honey and butter and salt.

I'm like, I'm in heaven. I'm literally. Yeah. She's so great. And then I'll drive over to work. And then I'll sit in my little office chair and work for about four hours, one to five.

And then I'll drive home, make my boyfriend and I some dinner. Not a bad life. Yeah, watch some TV, read a book, go back to bed. Good for you. Yeah, it's great. I love it.

But Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, I don't lift. So that's my busy day. So that Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, I lift.

And you work five days a week? No, I work three days a week. Monday was Friday. Okay. Got it. So those days are there's no time to lift unless I'm up at like five thirty.

That's like the other main question. Yeah. It's like, how do beach foglet players do this financially? Oh, yeah.

Like your schedule is similar to like how I did it when I first moved to California. Yeah. I had an afternoon job. I'll do either one to eight or two to eight. Yeah.

And I would actually, I didn't have mama Kim Hill drift. So I would go practice. And then I would shower at the beach as little beach showers. Oh, yeah.

And I would bring it. I had to wear like nice clothes. Yeah. So I'd be like beach showering towel off and I'd come out in like dress pants, button down, tie.

Oh my gosh. I went from like home like homeless beach bum to always actually presentable. Right. So I'd be gone. I'd leave my house at like six in the morning. And I wouldn't get back to like nine. Yeah. Yeah. That's insane. That's life. It is.

I mean, honestly, it's, it's great. I love the working part of my life right now because it really separates volleyball from ever being every part of my day, you know.

Being here at FSU school was that for me. So I'd, you know, focus on volleyball, do all the workouts, like check everything off the list. And then I'd go to school and I'd study and I'd like focus on that.

And so that was taking my mind off the volleyball. And that balance was really good for me. I feel like I succeeded well mentally. So replicating that has been really great for me.

I'm really interested. Now that you're at a college, you can answer this honestly. Like how much of a priority is academics in school when you're a D1 athlete. And like it's not like your answer is going to be everybody's answer.

But I'm like, some of our girls I'm like, are you here to major in beach volleyball or are you here to like major in real estate finance or getting your mind or beach volleyball?

Right. Yeah, it definitely varies from person to person, but I loved school. I really, I love school. I love studying. I loved my program. I was in the business school study finance, got my MBA, finance specialization.

So I really, really enjoyed that. So I think it made it easy for me to focus on that as my priority and then have volleyball not necessarily as a second, but I mean, I'm not going to be able to play beach volleyball for my entire life.

Right. So might as well be here and be focused also in school and then have a path for myself after I'm done with volleyball.

Cool. I've always wanted to know that because Delaney, whenever people ask her what she majored in, she's like, I majored in beach volleyball.

It's so funny because it works for some people. It's not like, listen, so you get degrees. Let's win a national championship.

You know, and I people have been very successful with that mindset too. And I'm like, who am I to judge? I don't know.

Yeah, but it worked out because like you were great in your time here on the court. You got your MBA. You got a job I'm assuming was kind of what you wanted to.

Yeah. Yeah. So good for you. You're kind of making it work somehow God's plan, man.

And I know it's so like when you first started playing professional like your rookie season, it's always like murky with beach volleyball.

Yeah. You can make a main draw when you're in high school. Like Sarah Wood did when she was like 14. Right.

Was last year your first year that you considered like full professional playing?

I would say last year was my first full year.

Okay. I mean, I guess first real year.

Remember you and Molly Turner had a great one when you were still here, right?

Yeah. And that was great. But it's not the same. I mean, I was very supported here and I would go on the trips

than I'd come back and my focus was FSC volleyball. So not having that to focus on anymore is very different.

And I mean, that's kind of the way it is for everyone. But I would consider last year was my first real rookie year.

Got it. And what were your impressions after now that the dust is settled? I'm sure you probably had some time to reflect on like, was it what you expected being a professional beach volleyball player?

Or something easier, harder?

Yeah. I guess it kind of goes back to what are the things that anyone should do to try and go pro.

I don't really think I figured that out until this year. So I think that I made a lot of mistakes but learned a lot along the way to hopefully make this year 100 times better.

It was a hard year. It was really hard. I went, my house got flooded in St. Pete.

Oh my gosh. I forgot about the hurricanes.

Yeah. So right when I graduated, I guess I graduated in December. But right when I finished with FSC Beach volleyball is when I left Tallahassee.

So in, I guess, what, August, September, something around summer, end of summer is when I moved over to St. Pete.

And that's when we got hit by hurricanes and my house got flooded.

Two of them. I'll leave it in notes. Bang, bang.

Back to back. And I was in Spain with Brooke when the hurricane hit. So then I go back to my first place that I've ever lived outside of a college town.

And everything is just destroyed. And oh, keep in mind, we actually, we got back from Spain and then ended up playing in Miami in a Queen of the Beach event.

That's right. Like, Queen of the Court event?

Sir Nicholas was out there. Yeah. Yes, he was. Exactly. So, yeah. So then the house sat flooded for a while.

Yeah. Welcome to the world. We were still back to Miami. Yeah. So it was a really, it was a punch to the gut, truly, for the first couple months there out of college.

But I mean, after that, I feel like we went through some super high highs, some pretty low lows. And I think there's adjustments that I've made this year based on that experience.

Hopefully year two is better than rookie year, but I'm confident that it will be pretty good rookie year, though.

Not many people jump out world tour first year and make an elite in Hamburg, which is like one of the more iconic events out there.

We had some really awesome events last year. We made the main draw in our first elite tournament. It was the Queen of the Rule.

So we qualified there, got out of pool. So we started off the year really great.

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And then we played. What do we play after that? A couple of days?

There's a Yucaton challenge. Did you play that one?

We played. Yeah, we played Yucaton. We did pretty good there too. Got out of pool. That tournament was so windy though.

Oh, well, I remember we watched that. We were at LSU and me, Brooke and Nick watched that on the patio of the hotel.

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. It was absurd. We were under hand serving. It's like, is this pro? It's crazy.

But yeah, so I think it was it was a lot of ups and downs, but really high highs, awesome memories. I mean, Brooke and I had so much fun together.

She's so fun to be around. I mean, you got to pick a partner who you like. We were with each other 24-7, but it was so great.

I mean, I wouldn't change it. I wouldn't change it for the world. I mean, I think I learned a lot and I grew a lot as a person and yeah, I had a good time.

And you said, I want to dig into a couple of the details you said, like made sound like a handful of mistakes first year, of course you're going to.

What were some of those mistakes that became learning moments that you've taken into YouTube?

Yeah. I would say the first thing is we struggled a lot with or I struggled a lot with being on the road so often.

I mean, we would like do back to back to back to back events, which I would say is fine for some people, but I think this year the max we're going to do is for tournaments in a row.

Because being on the road for more than that, you just get so beat up. I mean, you're in so many different time zones. The body starts to ache. You don't have a PT. I mean, you've got the PT's for just the tournament time, but that's more like recovery stuff.

You're eating funny food. You're never in your end bed. If you're in Europe, like you're sharing a hotel room that's pretty tight quarters.

Exactly. That one I really struggle with.

If you're not winning, then it's real tense. Yeah, exactly.

When I was with try and came, like with how beat up his body was, we knew like three in a row was the max.

Yeah. And then we had to shut it down. That's actually how, because Brooke kind of put me in charge of scheduling it for a state.

Three off-week, three off-week, and then we end on last regular season conference in the NCAA.

Absolutely. And so that was like how I structure it. This is how we liked it as pros, like three weeks in a row.

Yeah. Because then it gives you time to adjust. Yeah.

Because if you're losing, like, hey, you're cutting your losses by only doing three weeks in a row.

Yeah. And then you can watch a film make the adjustments in practice, get back on the road again.

And the practice part is really key. I did not realize how different it would be training on the road versus when you're home and like doing consistent trainings.

I mean, you don't really get a two hour long reps practice when you're on the road.

It's mostly, you know, warm up and then play against whoever you're with at the tournament.

Yeah, because then a lot of times like they want to get done whatever they want to get done.

Exactly. So it's never custom fit to you and your needs.

Exactly. Yeah. And we never really had a coach traveling with us either. So everything was run on our own.

It just, it was a little bit uncomfortable to try and do that so back to back to back.

So I think that's definitely something we're going to adjust this year.

That's good. What was your longest stretch last year? Do you remember?

Oh my gosh. We went on a, I think it was like six or seven weeks.

Yeah. It was absurd.

And like you said, some people can do it. I remember Kelly Kalinsky and Emily Stockman.

They would play like 16 to 19 FIVBs.

And that was when the AVP was running like eight events.

And so they'd be playing like 27 events a year and they were just always on the road.

Yeah. And I couldn't do it. Yeah.

Your sleep's terrible. Yeah.

You're not training. Different. And I was a player.

If I didn't get enough reps, I was terrible.

Yeah. And so like the little one hour practices with another international team where it's like you do a warm up game.

You get a servant pass and then you play.

Yeah.

I could never sustain a high level play.

Yeah. Absolutely. And I feel like a lot of the work life balance kind of goes away when you're on the road that long too.

I mean, like I said, I kind of thrive off of being done with volleyball at some point of the day.

And then like focusing on something else.

And you don't, you don't have that when you're on the road.

You're in the hotel with every volleyball athlete in the tournament.

And you're eating meals with them and you're in the gym with them.

So there's not really time to separate that.

So yeah, it was, it's tough mentally sometimes.

Well, we're some of the highlights though.

Because it's like such a, like as much of a grind as it can be, like always being jet lagged.

Yeah.

And just like all the and kind of stressed because a lot of times like your qualifier, your main draw, you're right on the cusp.

You're watching entry list.

Yeah.

But it's like such a beautiful grind.

Yeah.

Like those memories, I look back and like damn what a life.

Like what a cool life.

It's seriously such an awesome life.

Oh my gosh, Brooke and I did some really awesome traveling.

We liked to, to help with the work life balance.

We liked to go and do excursions after we would lose out of the tournament.

One of my favorite moments was when we were in China.

So we went to Simon.

Don't hear that very often.

I know.

I know.

Crazy.

But it was, it was so fun.

We went to, I think it was in Simon China.

And we had a good run.

We played a really good tournament.

We lost to some of our German friends in a great three-setter match.

We felt pretty good about the progress that we had made,

because this was more towards the end of the year.

And then we decided to go on a hike.

But we thought it was going to be a really nice, pretty casual walk.

And so we're in flip flops, leggings, long sleeves.

And it was so hot outside.

It was like 85 degrees.

So humid.

And it was a vertical trail.

It was like vertical stairs.

And so we're starting this hike.

And we're like, okay, we're probably, we're probably going to get close to the end here soon.

I think we hiked for like four and a half hours.

We're like, we're already halfway through two hours in.

And we're like, you know, we've got to almost be at the top,

because it was supposed to be like this hike to a lookout.

Oh my god, we got to the top.

We're both really big sweaters.

We're just like drenched.

There's no, we have no water.

We're in flip flops.

And we're like, what are we doing?

So classic.

This is the end of a long stretch of tournaments.

Like, what are we doing?

But it was so fun.

I mean, we had really great views.

We saw all the Simon from the top.

It was beautiful.

But just silly stuff like that, where, I mean, you're, I'm never going to be back there on that hike with Brooke.

And it's just a crazy memory.

Isn't it funny that it's always the memories where something went slightly wrong?

That's always what stands out.

I know.

When we were in the start last year, Kyle, he's a big explorer.

Yeah.

And so he's like, hey guys, I found this great hike.

I like traveling.

You love hiking and walking.

Yeah.

Sweet, let's go.

It was like a six mile loop.

And it, shit rain.

Oh my god.

All six miles.

Like, we couldn't, it hailed on us.

And like, we were in standing water.

And we get lost.

We come out like miles away from where we're supposed to.

So then we, like, we're trying to hitchhike our way back to the hotel.

But then we called like a shuttle.

And it took them like 20 minutes to get there.

And so we're just like, sopping wet.

I don't, I can't tell you how many hikes I've been on the world tour.

First one that comes to mind is just being freezing in the hail and rain.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh.

That's insane.

That's so insane.

That's not an ever felt so good.

Oh, I'm sure that was so nice.

Well, it was the best stop you went to last year.

Your favorite.

Ooh.

Honestly, Coenton Arue was awesome.

Mexico?

Yeah.

Doesn't right.

Awesome.

So many fans, like really well run event.

Very professional.

I mean, I hadn't played in a lot of late 16s.

So that was memorable qualifying for our first of late 16.

My dad was there.

Cool.

So that was super memorable.

Yeah.

I mean, it was just a really good time.

Beautiful city.

Beautiful water.

It's great.

Mexico, they do an awesome job.

Yeah.

I'm excited for you to go to Tlaxcala.

I know.

I'm excited too.

My favorite.

I kind of think of like, if I had to play a World Tour event,

like Tlaxcala would be pretty high on my list.

Yeah.

Because it helps that I have good memories from there.

Yeah.

Like me and Tim Brewster, we were like 10 on the reserve list,

two days before the qualifier.

We're number 31.

Yeah.

We go there.

We beat the two seed.

And then we end up losing the second round.

But it was just like, sold out a ring out for the qualifier

to watch like two no-name American kids.

But we played like Denmark.

It was awesome.

So I'm excited for you to go there and see.

Yeah.

I also think, I mean, traveling there is very easy from Florida.

Yes.

So that makes it 10 times better.

I mean, it's a two hour flight, one hour time change.

Really can't get much better than that.

You don't really get that on the World Tour.

It's cheap too.

Yeah.

It's affordable, which helps.

Yep.

Love that.

So you're, you played your kind of rookie full-time season

with Brooke Bauer.

Yep.

Now we're with Alana Chocón.

Yes.

Go Noles.

Go Noles.

I say you with the Noles.

Yeah.

What can I say?

It's my family.

Yeah.

So did you, you and Alana, you played here, like you can play here

together but not together.

You guys played in pairs together here?

We played very briefly together.

It was my first full season so that 2020-2021 season.

Got it.

So I guess I was a sophomore but technically a freshman.

I had played with Sarah Putt for the entire year.

Okay.

33 matches together or something insane.

And then last tournament of the year, they put me up with Alana.

We did great.

We won at the twos.

That was the highest it had ever been at FSU.

And then we played conference at the ones and then we played NCAAs at the ones.

Okay.

And that's all I played with her.

But there's still three tournaments, two really big ones.

But yeah, I mean, she's always been a teammate and I mean,

she's always been a huge leader on the team.

So I felt like I knew her and knew her volleyball really well before

even partnering with her at FSU.

And then even now, I mean, we spent three seasons together and pretty short here.

Okay.

I think three.

Maybe.

Yeah, three.

Cool.

And she coached when she coached the following year.

That's right.

I always forget that she coached.

Yeah.

So how did you guys end up coming together?

Well, it's a long story.

So Brooke and I ended up mutually breaking up at the end of last year.

Very cordial.

We're so good friends.

And then I found out from Morgan that she was pregnant.

And so Elena decided that she was going to move to St.P.

and help out with Morgan and live with her sister and help out with the baby when he comes.

And.

Boy, he boy.

Cool.

Congrats.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I didn't have a partner.

Elena also didn't have a partner.

So then we just decided that I mean, it's kind of fake.

She's moving to the area that I'm already training in and Brooke and I had finished up our season.

So we just kind of started playing together.

Pretty much.

Yeah.

And so when did you start like practicing and testing it out to see how you guys work together?

We, we hadn't been on the court until January of this year.

So pretty new.

Three months filled up for season.

Yeah.

End of January.

I think she moved in, moved into St.P. January 26th, I want to say.

So we trained together for a week and then we played some tournaments over in South Florida,

like many inner squad stuff with the girls we trained with.

And I mean, I guess we've only been on the court together for, I mean, how many weeks goes at like five weeks, maybe four weeks?

Okay.

Yes, she's, I mean, she's brand new back to Florida.

Yeah, exactly.

So that's, yeah, we, and we hadn't been on the court together since, I think literally since I was you.

Got it.

My freshman year.

Man, I remember the first time I met Elena, I was actually, so I was here because Brooke always has like kind of season opening

or first or second week we host here.

Yeah.

And she was playing, I was covering it.

I was working with 1440 at the time.

Yeah.

And they're like, I want you to cover college.

And so I was here writing about it.

And she was playing on court one with Molly McBain.

Yeah.

And I was like, this team is so dang fun because they're just like gritty and tough was the word.

Oh, he's like, Elena's still like one of the grittiest players.

Oh, for sure.

Yeah.

Like she, and she's so competitive.

Yeah.

And like watching her with our team at practice yesterday, I was like, we need a little dog.

Elena's got a little dog in it.

Oh, yeah.

Elena is intense.

She has a cheetah tattoo on her arm.

And that's like her spirit animal.

And I think it really, and it really, that's her.

It fits.

Yeah, it fits her.

Yeah.

That's good.

And so you guys, you're training group.

It's you two.

Jake McNeil's coach in.

Who else is in that squad?

Ken Hilldrich.

Ken Hilldrich.

Yeah.

She's part of our group.

Morgan is still training.

Yeah.

So she's still coming out there at least three times a week, popping on the court with

us.

And then Devon Sowers is our other group.

Okay.

And she's been great.

Because she was Louisiana based for a long time.

Yeah.

Is she's pretty new addition to the South Florida?

Yes.

I think that she moved.

I'm just saying, sometime end of last year.

Okay.

She moved over to Clearwater.

Her and Ryan, her fiance, lived together in Clearwater.

And.

Ryan Ayrner, right?

Yeah.

Okay.

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Honestly, I don't really know if he's always there.

Carlos, there's a guy named Carlos who plays in the group, can't say I know his last name.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love his game.

Yeah, he's great.

How you playing him?

Oh, my gosh.

They're great, though.

So one time a week, we practice with the guys as well.

Oh, cool.

Yeah.

Fun.

It's been so fun.

Yeah.

So you're guys schedule.

You're starting first is Tlaxcala, which is March.

We leave on March 17th, that Tuesday.

Okay.

If you guys tried to pick a priority, because it's weird right now with the AVP, you kind

of either enter you're out with only three sort of bigger tournaments, and then Denver's

decent prize money.

What pack is okay?

Yeah.

I give you prioritized international versus AVP.

Yeah, for sure.

I think both of our goals long term is Olympics, representing USA.

I mean, that's, I'm sure that's most people's dreams.

I've dreamt about it since I was 12.

So we are prioritizing FIVB, and AVP we're still going to play.

I mean, they're great, they've run some great tournaments, some great, I think the league

is a great thing, but we're going to definitely be playing more international.

So we'll go Tlaxcala, and then Nair it, I think is how you say it.

Yeah.

You can't Mexico that, and then we'll play in the two, the last two league qualifiers.

Okay.

Back, back, back, back, back.

Yeah.

Okay.

That first qualifier weekend is overlapping with Nair it, so we'll be playing in Mexico.

I wonder how many teams are going to make that choice to go international over just as many

chances as they can.

I don't know.

I also, with everything.

It's an intriguing dilemma.

I know.

With everything that's happening in Mexico right now, I'm, I'm not sure.

I don't keep up with geopolitical news.

Can you give me the rundown?

Uh, yes.

I don't want to botch it, but I guess someone really high up in the cartel was killed.

By the government and by our government, by Mexico's government, but we had a hand in

it.

Okay.

Oh, yes.

And so now there, there's a lot of political uproar up in the north where Nair is, and

it's, I don't think it's getting better yet, so we'll see if that event still happens.

Usually, I mean, usually the FIBV did such a good job and volleyball world with like player

safety is pretty high up on their priority list.

Yeah.

I have, like, because you'll go to some relatively dangerous or reputations for dangerous places.

Right.

And I've never felt at all.

Yeah.

Like Cape Town was the only place that I was like, this is one of the sketchy places.

Really?

Yeah.

So my first, uh, but they moved it.

When they went to Cape Town last year, it was a completely different location.

Yeah.

But where we went, like our hotel, someone did get their bags taken out of the lobby

first day.

And I was walking with one of those ball bags, which, you know, they're like just a single

ball carrier bag.

Yeah.

I was walking and homeless guy just, like, just tries to swipe it off my bag.

Oh, my gosh.

And I'm like, not, uh, someone you'd look at as like a target, like a six-four guy.

Yeah.

It's not like, wow, that's the vulnerable one.

That's the one I'm going for, yeah.

Like, damn.

They're bold out here.

Yeah.

Okay.

So then it was like, it's a little bit of head on a swivel.

Wow.

That's the only time I've ever felt like I got to pay attention.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think you're right about that.

It's generally, when you're surrounded by so many people, you know, or feel comfortable

with or, like, minded people, I feel like it's generally, I feel pretty safe.

Um, I don't know.

We'll see.

We'll see about that Mexico tournament.

Yeah.

I hope that everything it's figured out, I mean, for everyone's sake, not just, like,

go play the tournament.

Right.

Um, it all works out.

Yeah.

It all worked out in the end.

Yeah.

That's true.

It's rooting for teams like you and Elena and anyone outside California, because I think

before, like, uh, before the NCAA, especially, it was like, you have to go to California.

You have to go to California.

For sure.

And now, like, not only do I think it's not necessary to go to California, I think, depending

on your personality type and your budget, it could actually backfire to go to California.

100%.

Because like, like you said, you like that separation between, like, church and state

volleyball and life.

For sure.

And you don't get it in California, especially if you live in the South Bay.

Yeah.

Like you are in it.

Yeah.

I mean, it's like you're on the world tour where it's just like, you go to practice, you

go to the hotel where all the volleyball players are, you go to the gym and it's like, there

is no break.

Yeah.

And some people are the obsessives that they can do it, but I just see it and I see so

many players just stressing all the time about what everyone else is doing and they don't

get out of it.

Yeah.

And now that I've moved here, I'm like, man, I would actually really recommend players.

Absolutely.

Live somewhere else.

Do a six week training block in California, do your thing and then you can get back out.

Like I think you guys are, I think there's a new mold being made, inspired largely by

Kristen and Taren, showing them that it's possible.

Yeah.

Because all you really need is a coach who cares about you, a trainer, a good practice

group.

Yeah.

And you're good.

Yeah.

And you guys have it.

Yeah.

And one of the people who inspired me to do it, I've known Kim since I was 13.

Just playing in Florida and she, she kind of runs St.P. that's like, that's her place.

And so her making it work and being super high up, ranking wise, being very successful,

a really, really good volleyball player, high IQ.

And she did it all from St.P.

Florida.

I'm like, I mean, I can, I can do that.

I don't have to move out to California.

I think for the longest time, I had that in my mind that like, it's making it

harder to break it.

I've got to be there, but it's worked out really well, being in Florida, being close

to family.

And it's cheap.

It's so much cheaper.

Oh my gosh.

People are gasping at my rent prices.

I mean, and I live in a great house.

We live in a four-bedroom, huge house, three-bathroom, I mean, and it's way cheaper than anyone's

going to get in California.

And the winters here are better too.

Oh my gosh.

California.

People don't realize like, whether California winters, it's like wet, windy, and gray,

all the time.

And here, it's 70 and Sunday.

Oh, it's beautiful.

I mean, south, I'm from South Florida, so you can't beat it, in my opinion.

The sunsets are beautiful.

Winter, January through March in Florida is just like prime.

It's so beautiful.

Yeah, and I can even drop that back to like mid-September when it starts to cool down.

Yeah.

I was going to say after the hurricane season, then, yeah.

We got zero hurricanes this year.

So ever since, whatever the second one came through, I just had it really, really hit hard

last year.

So Delaney, she's been California lifer, and so she, anytime it drizzles, she's like,

oh, it's so pretty now.

She's gorgeous.

And so she was like borderline disappointed, and she's like, I kind of want to see what

her hurricane's all about.

Oh my gosh.

Like, no, I don't think you do.

Yeah, maybe not.

They're really, I guess, they're eventful.

They're usually not that bad though.

That's why we were in Spain when the hurricane hit, because I'm like, I've lived through so

many hurricanes and never had anything bad happen.

Yeah.

That one will differ.

And then that one happens.

But, you know, it's never going to happen in the rest of my lifetime, likely.

Right.

I mean, that was the first hurricane that was that bad, and on the West Coast for, I think,

like, a hundred years or something.

It was like unusual.

Yeah.

It was kind of extraordinary.

Yeah, exactly.

But you mentioned that, like, Olympics, it's something that you've wanted to do since

you were little.

Yeah.

I'm fired up because I'm obsessed with Olympics.

Me and Delaney, every night, we put the kids down and just watch like an hour of whatever

was on the, in the winter Olympics.

Yeah.

Have you always wanted to, like, be a professional beach volleyball player?

Yeah.

That's a good question, because the answer is no.

Okay.

I started out when I was very, very young.

My first Olympic aspiration was to be a gymnast.

Okay.

And then I hit five-five, and they were like, you can't be a gymnast anymore.

I was probably eight years old in five-five, or something insane.

That's like, yeah, that's not what you do.

Do your squats.

Trees are smashed.

That sounds like cool.

Toots all already.

So then my mom played volleyball in college, and then she played beach volleyball after

college.

And my sister knew that.

Started us playing beach volleyball.

It was her idea to play volleyball on my sisters.

Okay.

And then we played that for a while, and then got really into it.

And when I was young, I really, Olympics was always in my mind.

So I was like, all right, if it's not gymnastics, it's going to be volleyball.

And that was where I was at for the longest time.

And then in high school, I, I did not want to play volleyball anymore.

I actually, I don't know if I've told Brooke this before, but I almost decommitted from

it.

Really?

Yeah.

I almost decided I didn't want to play volleyball ever again.

I think I was just in a really...

A major bird?

Yeah, I was so burnt.

I was playing so much volleyball.

I was home schooled, so I was doing Florida Virtual School on the road, playing in tournaments.

Any tournament that was happening, I was playing in it.

My sister and I were playing in it.

Indoor and beach?

No, just beach.

Just beach, okay.

Just beach at this time.

Yeah.

We played indoor for a little bit, but quit when around, like, age 14, 15 maybe.

But yeah, anyways, so then I really lost my spark and I wanted to quit.

And so I took a really long break right before I came to FSU and then got here.

I actually had a conversation with Alana and she can attest to this.

I told her, I also, I'm not going to play after college.

I'm not going to play pro.

I don't want to go to the Olympics.

I want to get done with my four years and then have my finance degree and work in finance.

COVID happened.

It gave me a fifth year, gave me a lot of time to think about, you know, is beach volleyball

something that I really want to do because now my fifth year was also going to be volleyball,

right?

Right.

Instead of just having, like, an NBA year.

Right.

And so I was like, you know what?

I guess I'm really starting to like it and then I don't even, I can't tell you a time

that it switched for me, but around junior year when I started playing FIVBs and doing

the international thing, I was like, yeah, this is really sick.

I want to do this for sure.

Cool.

So, man, that's cool that you found that spark again.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah.

It was hard.

It was a rough year.

Yeah.

So many questions I want to ask because me and me, like, our kids, Austin, turns three

in April.

Yeah.

Harper just turned one.

She's a Valentine's baby.

Oh.

And we've, like, tinkered with the homeschooling thing.

Did you like it?

Did you recommend it?

I loved it.

I loved it.

I would highly recommend it to anyone.

I mean, my experience was perfect.

I wouldn't change anything.

I went to private school until third grade.

Okay.

And then fourth grade, my mom pulled my sister and I out of school and did homeschool with

us.

So she was our teacher.

Okay.

So we did homeschool with my mom until seventh or eighth grade and that's when we started

doing a homeschool school.

So we went to a school once a week with other homeschoolers.

So it's a co-op, I think.

Yeah, like a co-op.

It was out of church.

We went out of a church.

And we had one day a week where we would have teachers and we'd have classes and we'd

kind of get more of like a social and real like school experience, but we were still homeschooled

and could travel and could play volleyball and could decide, you know, I don't actually

feel like doing school today.

We're going to learn how to bake.

We're going to learn how to cook.

Oh, fine.

Yeah.

So I mean, I feel like I had a really well-rounded experience.

I got to play a ton of volleyball.

I think that public school would have held me back.

I think that I gained so much life experience that not many other kids have by the age

of 16.

This is a glowing review.

I'm cutting this out.

I'm cutting it to the length.

You have to.

Oh, my gosh, you got to do it.

We've talked about it a lot.

You got to do it.

And my biggest reservation is like sometimes me homeschool kids and you're like, there, yes.

And I can adjust to that.

But you're not.

Yeah.

Thank you.

If you do it right, you, I mean, I was playing a lot of sports.

I was always around other people.

Right.

It wasn't like my parents just had Cassie and I at home and that's all we were doing.

We were very social and I think that helped a ton.

So I guess being involved, we were involved in the church.

We were involved in like little clubs learning how to, again, piano and singing class.

Like those were all with other people.

So it wasn't just us all day long.

So that helped a ton.

And then I actually went to public school for one year before coming here.

Okay.

It was a huge culture shock.

So that was also key.

Home school, church is six kids.

Exactly.

40,000.

What in the world, man?

Exactly.

So that one year at public school was great.

You don't need more than one year.

But the one year was really good to just, you know, figure out your bearings, figure out

having classmates, you know, leaning on other people who are, instead of being like such

an internal like butterfly, you know, on your own, studying on your own, going to public

school helped me realize, oh, I can talk to my classmates.

I can lean on my professor.

I can have these other outlets to like help me with my school.

Cool.

That's a cool story.

Highly recommend.

Always.

I'll let you let me know.

And if we, what's, uh, often gets the kind of schooling age, uh, will be hitting up, uh,

your parents.

Oh my gosh.

My mom will be all over that.

Very Ann.

Collar.

But, uh, so you were like kind of burned out.

Yeah.

Sort of found that, that love again.

I see that a lot with, um, when we do calls with recruits, for example, who asked him,

like, is college kind of the end goal?

Do you want to go past college and, and a lot of them, I feel like are at that stage that

you were at where they're like, college is it.

Yeah.

And I'm going to be ready.

But, um, I feel like, like Alexis was there last year.

Yeah.

And because I think Alexis is unbelievable and she, I don't know if she realized how good

she was.

Yeah.

For sure.

Yeah.

I mean, I don't even, I, it wasn't on my own doing to go and play international.

I got a call from Molly Turner, now Shaw, that she was looking for a partner for this

random Italy futures tournament.

And I was on vacation with my mom, I was like, I'm going to have an awesome summer.

And then, I was like, you know, what, you know, Italy would be really cool.

I've never been to Europe.

Um, I need to play some tournaments over the summer.

So, you know, might as well do it.

So I flew over there and then we won.

I was like, you know what, this is actually really fun.

This is really fun.

I kind of like winning.

I kind of like playing on the World Tour.

So it wasn't, I mean, Molly was the one who like pulled me out there.

It was never my own.

Let me find someone to go and play with me.

So, creds to her for getting me out there because that was when it switched for me, was

after playing with her.

And I think that like, one, everything's easier when you're winning, but winning's easier

when you are excited to go to Italy when you're excited to go to Hamburg or whatever.

That was like what sort of pushed me to be kind of finished plan.

Right.

So, I'm going to go to the tournament and be like, because Austin was newborn and I was

like, man, I don't want to be here.

And I can't be good at home.

That's when I know I was like, cool.

I'm good.

Yeah.

But I think when you're enjoying yourself, it just makes every, it makes losing even more

palatable.

But you're just going to have more success.

Yeah.

That's what I found anyway.

I can agree with that.

Yeah.

What kind of competitive do you think you are?

Like, you like, I'm going to play angry or you more like Steph Curry vibes, like sort

of playful.

Oh.

I think I'm still, I'm still trying to figure it out because I, I have memories

of games where, you know, I was fierce, loud, like obnoxious, truly, and played really

well.

And then there's other games that I've just kind of like been head down and focused on

myself, not cheering, saving my breath, and played really well in those two.

So I can't say, really.

It's a fun journey you're about to go on.

Yeah, it is.

Jake's helping me on that journey right now.

We've been talking about that a lot.

I can tell you Jake was loud.

Jake was as loud as his clothing.

That's how Jake was.

Oh my God.

That's hilarious.

That's hilarious.

Oh my God.

That's hilarious.

Personally on the court.

Yeah, neon pink.

Got this color.

Do you guys do Jersey Fridays with him?

Has he kept Jersey Fridays?

No.

So when he was a player, Canada, like their thing was Jersey Fridays.

Yeah.

So they'd always wear jerseys to practices.

Yeah.

And me and Jake, we traveled.

We had a year.

We did all the same world tour stops.

And it was COVID-ish.

So we just used Sophia Bulgaria as our home.

OK.

So we'd like go out play tournament, either go to the next one

or go back to Bulgaria, same hotel, and then hit the next one.

So I spent like six or seven months in my life

basically living with Jake on the road.

And Jersey Fridays, that was the thing.

If you guys, so next Friday, when you guys practice,

just show up.

If you guys have jerseys, just show up and be like,

Jake is Jersey Fridays.

Don't tell him.

I'm going to do that.

You're going to surprise him with it.

He will love it.

Oh my gosh.

Noted.

That's hilarious.

And you know, Jake, in his clothes, he has just an enormous closet

of old NBA jerseys.

So he went to him in, Alex Russell went to Cape Town with us.

And this picture of us, like, huddled Alex was seven feet.

And so us huddled in an Uber.

And Alex has this old school Memphis Grizzly's jersey on.

Oh my gosh.

We have one of those skylight photo frames.

It pops up all the time.

I'm like, man, good times with the boys.

Wow.

That's so fun.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah.

He's got some choices.

You got to say.

Yes, he does.

I'm excited that he's your coach.

I know.

Good energy.

He's awesome.

He's been really, really, really great.

Yeah.

Key.

Where should people follow you and your journey with Elena?

Well, I'm learning how to be better with my social media.

Okay.

So my Instagram, I post, I'm posting more, matty.may with two eyes.

And then I'm trying to grow TikTok, maybe not really great at it.

But working on it, Elena's helping me a ton with that.

She's, she's primo with her social media.

Cool.

So my TikTok is mattyline.may.

Again, there's the may.

I get the confusion now.

I get the confusion.

But Elena will be posting a ton.

She's got, she's got a lot of social media.

But when I write about you, Matty Anderson, Matty Mayan.

Let's stick with Matty Anderson.

Matty Anderson, it is.

We'll cut the confusion right here.

Boom.

Well, Matty, I'm glad you're here.

Thanks for, hey, thanks for coming out.

Practicing with the team.

Glad we got to get some reps.

I'm stoked that you have found that spark again.

Thank you.

You're too coming up.

I'm excited for you and Elena.

I know me too.

It's gonna be a good year.

Thanks for the pod, Matty.

Thank you for having me.

So fun.

Great job, Matty.

Yes.