00:01:52.460So when, when you guys read the book and you read about the post-it that I got, so, so just to, just to recap a little bit, when we tried out for volleyball, Sally and I were very different volleyball players.
00:02:03.680Sally was a much, like you had much more natural talent. She was a, well, it's true. You, you on the grade nine team, you were a star. Like you, you had that talent and I was a little bit more of a grinder.
00:02:17.280Like volleyball, I was okay in grade nine. Come grade 10, Ms. Rosan, shout out. She sat me on the bench for a long time. We didn't really see eye to eye. And that was when I thought, oh, I'm never making the senior team because Gord Williamson, shout out Gord Williamson. I'm going to try to get him on this podcast. I swear to God.
00:02:35.580shout out to gordon williamson i thought he kind of walked and surveyed the school and decided who
00:02:41.420he was going to pull up to play up onto his senior volleyball team which everybody wanted
00:02:46.860to play for because they were amazing yes and which i got to play for in offsa with them and
00:02:52.640i actually hit the tail end exactly i actually hit the court because she was better way better
00:02:56.700than me but i'm just saying she was i'm just saying but i barely played well but i barely
00:03:02.000the beginning but it was very cool to be around that but it was very cool to be at offsa with
00:03:06.680that team so just so you guys know high school in ontario goes up to grade 13 when we were kids
00:03:12.800right so she played salie played up at grade the end of grade 10 and then onward but in grade 10
00:03:19.120i'm sitting on the bench and while i'm sitting on the bench gordon walks by me and i'm like well
00:03:22.560there it goes i'm never playing do you know how i even got the call to play i don't even know if
00:03:28.100you know this story so I was sitting on the bench he was never asking me to try out for this girl's
00:03:33.340volleyball team I'm like that's done and then I played rugby that spring and Mr. Hussey shout out
00:03:38.960to Mr. Hussey Mr. Hussey was a coach for the rugby team and I just played all out and he's the one
00:03:47.100that told told Will that you got to give this girl a shot because she just plays all heart
00:03:53.180she's all heart she's she goes I he goes I don't even know if she plays volleyball but she's all
00:03:57.540heart on the rugby pitch just give her a shot so that's why he even let me try out okay right and
00:04:02.860then i tried out and when we tried out you sort of they post a very last list now for me salie was0.90
00:04:08.420like smoking balls right like just friggin she's a middle hitter she hit the ball like a friggin
00:04:14.320superhero oh my god meanwhile my only superpower was diving everywhere and you did i don't dive1.00
00:04:23.060everywhere. And we had this thing where we pushed boards. So we had a two by four that was wrapped
00:04:29.820in a towel about two feet wide and you put it on the ground and you bend over and you push it up
00:04:34.860and down. We're in a gym right now. You do lines. You do lines. Yeah. Like suicides, but with a
00:04:39.340board, if that makes sense. Now I was amazing at it. Oh yeah. Saley. I was horrible. She still
00:04:47.140can't do one. I should get one out of the thing. No, cause I won't be able to do it. I told people,0.91
00:04:51.640i even told my kids i'm like there were these things called boards which is exactly what you
00:04:56.720explain and i was like i'm going on this podcast and my friend joanna she would go laps up and
00:05:02.220down this i could barely even you put too much pressure on it you were telling me how to do it
00:05:08.060it didn't matter my quads were screaming the whole time it hurts right and i literally told my kids
00:05:14.520though i said i couldn't get up and down the court everybody was like shouting at me finally i'm like
00:05:19.160i can't do it and i would like lay down remember and will the coach he would be like forget it
00:05:24.460salie just get up and he didn't make me do it because i was so she was so good because i was
00:05:29.840so bad meanwhile like no meanwhile the board guys that was my only way in i if i wasn't going to be
00:05:40.420a great volleyball player i had to be the player that would kill myself oh my god right i didn't do
00:05:46.060but I would just fall over. So when I, when we, when we tried out for the senior team,
00:05:50.260I didn't think, I didn't know if I was going to make it. Sally, obviously. Oh no, no, no. I'm
00:05:54.540not, I'm not taking away from what we became. I'm just saying at the beginning, like mostly I sat
00:05:59.300on the bench, but, um, everybody else got to see a list at school, but I was at a co-op placement.
00:06:05.120So Gord called, he said, you'll go check the secretary's office. So when I walked into the
00:06:09.340secretary's office, she handed me a post-it that said senior practice 7am. And I still have it in
00:06:14.580my wallet now. And Will would pick me up every day for that practice, even though I live four
00:06:20.520minutes from the school. He'd pick me up too. It's true. And you would be in the car. Cheryl
00:06:25.360would be in the car. He'd pick everybody up for practice. So crazy. My parents would laugh. They're
00:06:30.280like, you literally have to walk through a path. I'm like, no. But it was just like, it was, it's
00:06:35.260interesting. And I want to talk about him as a coach. I want to talk about that team because
00:06:39.780there was something pivotal about that team and I know you went on to play university ball and I
00:06:45.660went on to play university sports but I don't know what do you think and maybe I'm wrong maybe
00:06:50.800that's just me but you there was something magical about that team do you think oh yeah like we all
00:06:58.360just I don't know we just had our thing I don't know what it was because I think about us on paper
00:07:03.480like if you were to look at our team on paper meaning our size we were tiny see how tall are
00:07:09.320five eight so tiny salie i would never make a middle hitter nowadays yeah salie was one of our
00:07:15.900and on paper i think and even walking into the court individually people will be like oh whatever
00:07:23.700it's anderson yeah but but what i think was magic and this is i think a testament to will
00:07:29.520was that as a team we were just better do you understand what i mean like it was like our
00:07:37.060individual talents all and I never felt like there was huge ego on that team no we just genuinely
00:07:44.500liked each other I think right like I think was there I don't remember genuinely liked each other
00:07:50.500yeah and we were always joking around with each other that you started volleyball mix do you still
00:07:56.820have the volleyball mix the tape yeah what do you mean the music of course yes I should play a little
00:08:02.120life is a highway right now if i had that technical ability life is a highway right and then um yeah
00:08:08.520you you had the mix and you had to have that we had a ghetto blaster that's right and you don't
00:08:14.120say ghetto blaster anymore exactly but you would bring in you would bring in a ghetto blaster what
00:08:18.440we called it and then we would play that in life is a highway that's just a little arythmics was on
00:08:23.860that warm-up tape there was a lot of we are this is how um this is how humble we were we would also
00:08:32.960play we are the champions yes on our warm-up tape people must have hated us like just or they were
00:08:40.680intimidated we always had a good time though but i think it stands to but it was discipline
00:08:45.720discipline with gourd the warm-up was the exact same every single time yeah and then and he would
00:08:52.440we would know where we're going it was like a university warm-up because I say there's so many
00:08:56.560teams because I'll even watch some high school teams and they're just kind of doing whatever
00:09:00.640right but when you get to university everything is you know this is what we're doing first this
00:09:05.200is what we're doing second and then it's a whole warm-up that's scheduled yeah and Gord had that
00:09:10.160all the time and I think that when he picked us too I honestly do believe he he picked a team he
00:09:17.280just didn't pick players. And, and he said this, that he picked people with heart and he, and he
00:09:24.140used to say, you can teach skill. You can teach a skill. You can't teach a, a, a, like a sense of
00:09:31.840team and a heart and a work ethic that's either there or it's not there. And we've had a few
00:09:37.160people that like had a bit of skill, but didn't last too long on that team or maybe sat on the
00:09:42.380bench because the heart wasn't there. Right. So as we started playing and it, I also find it
00:09:48.960interesting that he was like, to this day, we've, we've still talked to him. I talked to him often,
00:09:54.520but to this day, it's like, he had this thing where he was like a typical guy. Like he was a
00:10:00.880gruff guy, drove a truck. Like he wasn't warm and fuzzy. No, he wasn't warm and fuzzy. But if I had
00:10:09.000to call to get out of jail i could have called it yeah and you and you knew he cared about everybody
00:10:14.000well he cared so much that he drove the remember drove the rental van like because we told him
00:10:20.160even though we're going into an underground with the rental van remember that we're going into the
00:10:25.080underground with the rental van and he said and it was hitting the top it was scraping just a little
00:10:32.440just a little bit of a barrier we'll be no no we convinced him that it'll be fine
00:10:36.660that's how much he like just believed in us it wasn't fine fine we got halfway down there and
00:10:44.900i'm sitting in the back and you start seeing the roof divot in we're like and then we're like now
00:10:52.600what do we do was especially cheryl's like it'll be fine was his hand broken at that time remember
00:10:56.520his hand was broken at some point was he was that the time or was that a different time anyways and
00:11:01.520he had to get out and he had to let out the air from the tires and ruin the rims. I don't even
00:11:08.120know how you were turning that van. I don't even know. Cause he had to lower the rims. But he had
00:11:12.540to take the fall for that. That was it. Because I remember Sheila going, it's fine. Don't even
00:11:16.720worry. It's fine. It's fine. And everybody was like, it's going to be fine. Even though it was
00:11:20.380touching like the barrier. It's just the barrier. Oh yeah. What a nightmare. Oh my God. I also
00:11:25.260remember like i mean we won pretty much everything but playing on that team like you guys got to know
00:11:32.020we were at practice at 7 a.m five days a week and he took us to tournaments nine out of 12 weekends
00:11:39.780yeah like i didn't even know we had a family like that's that's the commitment you know what i mean
00:11:44.780like what was his family doing all that time sale like think about that like you go away with other
00:11:50.000people's kids for nine weekends of 12 weekends in that particular you know but I mean he was he
00:11:59.020he was rough too I mean I so you're talking about those pivotal moments too and so like I remember
00:12:05.280I think we were in Ottawa for a tournament and I think I messed up a couple times it was a pivotal
00:12:09.680game and he never yelled at me like really ever like no he yelled at me but he really didn't yell
00:12:18.100at me but I remember he yelled at me in that game and he was I don't remember what Joey said do you
00:12:23.240remember that like he just he just we had a timeout because I think I hit two balls into the net or
00:12:27.720something and then he really wanted to win this game and he was just like smart enough or he did
00:12:33.260something but he pointed and he yelled I was like oh my god but after that it turned around and we
00:12:38.580ended up winning the game see there was players he could yell at though he could yell at me he could
00:12:42.760yell at you he could yell at cheryl and that's it if there's if he yelled at erica love you erica
00:12:49.740you're listening erica would put you don't yell at erica gamble like don't you don't yell at her
00:12:54.720don't yell at kelly you could yell at lisa back in the day but there are players uh you know that
00:13:01.160you can yell at and then so i feel like he would he would yell at you or me because he knew it goes
00:13:08.140for the team yeah but i can direct but like really yell at me yeah i can throw it out really yell at
00:13:12.720me oh yeah that's all i mean now i don't think he get like now he's thrown some some clipboards
00:13:20.380no that's what we joke about chairs he threw he threw a chair that same game
00:13:24.400right because if you were on the bench you don't sit near him if you were on the bench and you knew
00:13:29.700he was upset you guys would all just like come over towards the center you could just start to
00:13:34.920throw well yeah he would he would slam down on the side of the the bench and you're like you just
00:13:40.620don't sit back no you just don't but the thing was it was always it wasn't a mistake he would
00:13:46.340get upset with as much you know what he got really upset with I think it and this is so true again
00:13:51.700pivotal moment which is why I think it informs so much of who I am he got upset if you weren't
00:13:57.120playing with heart meaning if you're gonna hit the ball hit it friggin hard if it goes out the
00:14:02.300court cool if you're gonna hit if you're gonna serve hit it hard if you need to get to you know
00:14:07.160die for the ball if you do that there's no yelling but if it looks like you hesitated if it looks
00:14:14.100like you backed up if it looks like you didn't give it your all you're like oh somebody else
00:14:18.180will get that well then that's what the and and for me even in life that that is it if you're
00:14:25.540gonna hit it hard hit it out right that's just like a beautiful metaphor for the way that everybody
00:14:31.040should walk through life understanding that you know sometimes you lose the point but how did you
00:14:37.220play and listening like being on that team um not only surrounded by players that were technically
00:14:46.280way better than me you know and I and I think over time I definitely obviously got better but
00:14:51.340but we all got better too we all got better we all got better and we got better and the reason
00:14:56.180why i think we were so freaking powerful was because i think we got better with the thing
00:15:01.080we needed to bring to the game do you understand what i mean by that like like we all had different
00:15:07.600things that we were maybe great at and it was like well that you bring that thing you bring
00:15:13.480that thing no matter how much no matter what like i'm not letting you set a ball but you
00:15:17.900that's not your thing can i tell you i'm the setter on my team no listen you're now on playing
00:15:25.300old lady so all of your no and guys all of your play co-ed and we lost our setter and nobody else
00:15:31.340wanted to be a set so i set guys so i set now listen it was real like it was bad in the very
00:15:37.760beginning and i'm still bad like they know they know that you know i'm not a setter by trade at
00:15:44.380all so they'll so they'll give me grace so they'll give me grace if i have a bad set to them now
00:15:49.340but nobody wanted to set and if nobody wants to set then listen but that's what you just you got
00:15:55.700to keep you got to just pick it up like my thing was definitely serving the really sad part about
00:16:00.320my your serves were amazing okay let me tell you something so sad so obviously i'm 49 way older
00:16:06.880than you apparently yes way older than me and i played in this league in the in the way it was
00:16:12.360so much fun it was a lot of fun or whatever serving overhand and i served once and something
00:16:19.100but people say menopause perimetopause frozen shoulder all of the rotator cuff all of these
00:16:25.880different things but peel I hit the ball and on contact here something happened in my shoulder
00:16:32.160I almost threw up and so now I can't if I'm going to even hit the ball how long ago was this it's
00:16:39.140just this winter so I've had to I I do you have frozen shoulder I don't I had to serve under
00:16:45.960oh my god but did you miss oh no i got the ball over under no no no but can i tell you
00:16:52.120there's a couple of people on my team there's a couple of people on my team and one guy in
00:16:57.980particular that when he says he doesn't trust himself with the overhand like if it's a critical
00:17:03.300point he'll underhand serve and he's missed no no and at that point you should just walk i'm like
00:17:08.580Exactly. Have a nice day. If you serve underhand and you miss it, like that's when I would yell
00:17:16.560at him on the court every single time. He's like, I know I'm taking it. I'm like, you don't miss if
00:17:20.180you serve underhand. That's also a rule of life. Rule of life. It's a rule of life. If you're
00:17:25.480going to play it safe, get the job done. Or you have to quit. It just made no sense. I'm like,
00:17:34.800how can you not serve it in serving under you know what else was cool about anderson in that
00:17:39.760time and about so this volleyball team which i also think super important we were the girls
00:17:45.180senior volleyball team at anderson was the team the team at anderson there was no other team that
00:17:51.500took priority no other team that was like the the prized kind of possession because for a very long
00:17:58.660time we kicked ass and what was cool about that is there was a level of respect for girls on
00:18:06.260athletes that I think was way ahead of its time do you know what I mean like think about most0.59
00:18:12.020schools most schools the guys basketball team or maybe a guy's football team or whatever
00:18:16.100but that school was no oh no no that's the girls girls volleyball team yeah and there was a power
00:18:23.540we went to AFSA how many times in a row so many times so many times in a row
00:18:28.640you remember playing in offsa speaking of learning hard lessons um when we got silver yeah that's the
00:18:35.800main thing at mac we played at mac and we lost against mayfield which is my husband's school
00:18:42.480that's a and so he constantly brings up remember with barb
00:18:45.940barb guys i believe i feel like it's a and she had a scholarship i want to say to stanford0.97
00:19:24.540tattooed across my forehead. I know she was incredible. She was incredible. What was
00:19:29.260incredible about that game? She was that frigging good. And we still lost. It was like by like 15,0.98
00:19:35.44013, 15, 13. I know we came now and what was beautiful. It was a silver medal. Obviously
00:19:41.520nobody likes a silver medal, but there is no, there is no way that that medal wasn't the most
00:19:48.780impressive athletic thing, I swear to God, I've ever watched a group of people accomplish together
00:19:55.240because we were way out of our league. Meaning if you looked at them on paper, Barb wasn't the
00:20:00.860only tall chick on that team. They were all tall and they were good. And the one girl I ended up
00:20:06.840playing with at Mac, um, Christine, I ended up playing with Christine at Mac. She was very,
00:20:11.720very tall and she was a middle at Mac. See, I couldn't be a middle at Mac. I was, I was a left0.91
00:20:15.720side yeah um but no but do you remember the semi-final for that game yeah tell the story
00:20:21.920this is a great by the way this is another great story oh my god we were what would we losing i
00:20:27.000try to remember we were losing we were losing so games in that time only went up to 15 as well so
00:20:31.920i think what we're trying not rally point so it went to 15 and you had you had to serve to get
00:20:37.440the point yeah otherwise it was just enough it was just a side up yeah so it took forever for
00:20:41.520the games we were losing I want to say 12-4 easy 12-4 13 I think it was 13-5 for the longest time
00:20:48.700and we ended up winning at 16-14 I remember Colleen and I were in the back row and you I think you
00:20:55.900were serving a lot of those points when we started getting them back and Colleen and I were in the
00:20:59.480back row and it was just like because Colleen was like she swung the ball great but her pass wasn't
00:21:05.960necessarily the most perfect pass you had amazing passes but her and i in that moment
00:21:10.620it was like for the love of the game it was a perfect game colleen and iris in the back row
00:21:16.440boom boom anything that came back there like how is this happening we're like we're losing and then
00:21:21.080we did it again yeah because then the next game you think we would get smarter but the next game
00:21:25.640we were down quite a bit as well yeah and we can't and and that team was better on paper yeah they
00:21:31.280were huge too. Yeah. 13 to four, 13 to five. I just remember like it was crazy. I can only imagine
00:21:39.120on their side. I can only imagine on their side, all the team and the coaches going like, what is
00:21:44.240happening? But there it is, right? That's the beauty of it. And I think that's what that team
00:21:50.020taught me. I really do. I think there was something, there was something about the way
00:21:56.900we played together, I don't even remember. I'm sure we did. Like, I'm sure there was back and
00:22:02.020forth at some point, but I swear to God, I can't remember a single negative, like anything significant
00:22:10.100of that team. And maybe that's because I'm having, do you, can you even remember? Maybe I'm having
00:22:15.100like foggy memory. We would always go to Melanie Pringles too. You and Cheryl were always really
00:22:19.560good at organizing like stuff with Will. We would go to Melanie Pringles and Whitby. It's still
00:22:24.740there i think we went there not long ago all as adults really no you were there no i wasn't yes
00:22:30.380you were when we had the yes you were are you okay is this perimenopause you were there
00:22:37.940it was with will when we met oh yeah sorry it was like a long time ago well it was a really long
00:22:45.200time you said it was not that long ago that was like 10 years ago okay but not that long as in
00:22:49.460it wasn't high school. No, that was, okay. We've been out of school for like 30 years ago.
00:22:55.480It was like 10 years ago. Yeah. No, Melanie Pringles. And then we would, we would get
00:22:59.800together and then that would kind of be a place as well too. Yeah. And the, the idea that the,
00:23:05.760this team, this, this, I don't know. And it made me go to school. It made me, not that I hated
00:23:12.140school or I was bad at school, but if you didn't go to school, you didn't play. Literally. If you
00:23:16.940decided I was going to show up that day, you'd be sitting on the bench. Doesn't matter how good you
00:23:20.340are. Will would not play you. And, and it was like, it kind of in, not only empowered you in
00:23:27.360the sense of like, you feel really good about doing something, but it made you want to do
00:23:31.700better at other things because you want it. I want it. I'll say this book. I wanted to impress
00:23:36.360Will. Like I wanted to make sure he was proud. I wanted to make sure that I did, you know,
00:23:40.800and he kind of built that in a kind of paternalistic kind of way. I would say like,
00:23:45.860I think he was a father figure in a lot of ways for some of us well like we all especially after
00:23:52.640that even though it was second place you know we came back it was like what was we got him that
00:23:57.300license come back 94 come back 94 we we got him that license plate he loved it I wonder if it's
00:24:03.120still on his car he still has it he does I it's still on his car today it's on his truck it's on
00:24:08.460his truck yeah see because that's special too for all of us to get together and want to do that for
00:24:13.760him as well. Right. And I think, yeah, I think there's something when you're teenagers, especially
00:24:18.440as women. And I think this is a really important part is that athletics has a way of tapping into
00:24:24.100something different. And I know you played when you went to Mac for, you know, when you went to
00:24:28.700a university there. Um, but athletics has a way of tapping into, what do you think it is? Because
00:24:36.520it gives a sense of confidence that nothing else gives. I don't think it's something else. What do
00:24:42.540you well it's a sense of yeah but you can but I think it's also like it's even a forum to test
00:24:50.760yourself and a forum to to fail at things too right oh that's awesome yeah don't you think so
00:24:57.700I coached I coached my daughter like her club team um for the longest time and when she was in high
00:25:04.920school and then just the last couple years I didn't but I was just an assistant coach but I
00:25:10.600just found too it's like and especially volleyball and I would bring her to Mac like so shout out to
00:25:16.540Tim Lukes who just retired who was my vulnerable coach and he was still there up until like two
00:25:22.760years ago so I would bring her and whoever from the volleyball team wanted to go we actually took
00:25:27.200a full trip there and we would go just to see Mac play because my coach was still coaching
00:25:33.200and but what we would point out with the girls like and especially the captain of the team who0.95
00:25:38.900he would who tim would choose being the captain of the team is that she would go up she'd take a
00:25:44.560swing and again hard as hard as she could she messed up it's like okay she didn't hang her
00:25:51.360head down she was up high fives from everybody the next one she's like give it to me again
00:25:56.800come back out swing she gets the kill right and then that was such a teachable moment to all of
00:26:03.600the girls and i think especially in volleyball it's so huge and then that's what i try to teach
00:26:08.520the girls as well too like it's okay to get up do your best but then you want that right back to try
00:26:15.760to do it better the second time and that was okay that that happened but the next time you're going
00:26:20.300to do it better do you think that's what it is about athletics that there there is something
00:26:25.180about just but it's also the teamwork the camaraderie yeah like i think being part of
00:26:30.060something with a common goal there is is is so key right because i don't know what you find like i
00:26:35.700have a son and a daughter I find growing up for them very different I find girls very they could
00:26:42.000be very catty right like there's always some drama going on right but you get them on the same team1.00
00:26:48.900like I still be talking about whatever else or you know before they get on the court but as soon as
00:26:53.520they're on the court they have that common goal and they have that camaraderie that they'll never
00:26:58.420forget right and on the floor it's a totally different it's a totally different thing to them
00:27:03.580Do you think, yeah, do you think that's counterculture then? Because I do think that the reason, maybe this is the reason I'm drawn so much to athletics, especially for young girls, is because our culture, unfortunately, has historically, and still to some degree currently, it's very divisive for girls.
00:27:20.040It's very oddly caddy and behind your back, and this is my group of people, and this is your group of people.
00:27:28.980And culturally, I think it's been supported in that way, whereas when you're on a team, you learn something else.
00:27:38.540And it's not to say you can't learn it in different places, but I do think there is something about a team sport
00:27:44.580that allows young women to step into something that society as a whole isn't teaching us
00:27:52.140or isn't really excited to teach women. Do you understand what I mean?
00:27:57.580What do you mean excited to teach women, not excited to teach women?
00:28:01.120I think women, I think in general, when you think about, you know, foundations of patriarchy and
00:28:06.680sexism and all of those things, I think women have been taught a lot more competition. It's
00:28:12.200funny. You think it's between men, but guys just compete in different ways. But whereas girls
00:28:17.280compete, you know, with the way they look and who they sit with, like whose lunch table you sit at,0.97
00:28:23.360you know what I mean? Like that's a, that's a, it's a social construct. I think that we put on
00:28:29.620women. We don't teach them as much to support each other, to, to lift each other, to elevate0.89
00:28:37.960each other I think that's why it's so quick for women to condemn oh do you see what she was wearing0.70
00:28:44.480oh my god you see who she walked in with guys don't do that we do that and and why do we do0.66
00:28:51.880that and where do we do that and how in a team environment if you're on the right team with the
00:28:57.520right coach because if you have a bad coach you're you know up the creek anyway but if you have the
00:29:02.120right coach that encourages and creates that kind of environment where literally I would break my
00:29:09.940arm like if if me diving for that ball meant I was out for the season because I dislocated my
00:29:15.660shoulder I'm doing it and to build that that's impressive and like we're from like different
00:29:23.360different areas and different social circles too which is pretty cool right because it's not like
00:29:29.160you know we hung out a couple of us hung out outside of volleyball but not all of us yeah
00:29:34.200not all of us all together right we were all in different circles but it didn't matter much so
00:29:39.100when you got on the court right yeah and and there was a beauty a little bit of a beauty in that too
00:29:44.260right there was this idea that you didn't and that was cool too because I think in for a lot of girls
00:29:50.340it's like you have your best friend and you have where you sit and if you deviate from that you
00:29:54.860know then there's drama whereas for our team it was like we were in different grades we we like
00:30:00.300different things uh we hung out with different people and then as soon as you were on that court
00:30:05.420that was it you were together you were together and there there is something very cool about that
00:30:10.340i don't know if will create it i'm still trying to wrap my head around is it something he because
00:30:15.700he had success after success after success so it's obviously there's something he's bringing
00:30:21.500to the table so do you remember him though bringing in the seniors like I think it was a lot
00:30:26.860of mentorship to be honest and um I try to do this too you know with teams we bring in people
00:30:33.420that are experienced and have been through you know things that you have not been through yet
00:30:37.580so he would bring back like Lisa Babington like would come and help out right and he would bring
00:30:43.560back a couple of like Joanna Hood I think came back as well too right so like she would come and
00:30:49.380she would um mentor us like she would just you know run drills with us or you know do something
00:30:55.380with us right and it's just having that person to look up to too he would be really big on that
00:31:00.120whole mentorship piece as well which is again why i would bring you know my daughter and some
00:31:05.960teammates to go to mac and to see you know what they could be and have those girls come and talk
00:31:11.300to them after the game right and then to chat with them about their volleyball experience and
00:31:16.860ask questions and everything too, right? I also think he let us, like we're painting him to be
00:31:22.160this very, and he was, he was very strict. You got to get the job done. But he also let us be kids.
00:31:28.440Like we laughed and we danced and we snuck down to the thing and tried to order, remember when we
00:31:34.720tried to order that drink and Erica was like, is there alcohol in that? And it got taken. We're
00:31:39.520holding it. And they took it right from in front of you. But he never, like he knew that we would,
00:31:46.520you know we never did anything bad but he let us he let us have a good time and then you knew when
00:31:54.600you had to work and i think as a teacher maybe as a parent definitely as a coach that balance
00:32:01.720is magic if you can figure out a balance with anybody in your life to be perfectly honest of
00:32:07.800how to have a good time because that's essential how to form connection and bond and in a team
00:32:13.960formation. And then, and then you snap your fingers and you're pushing that board up and
00:32:19.140down the thing until you want to vomit. I would vomit like about half an hour before you would
00:32:25.280even think about it. Here's the thing. When you start doing the boards, your quads would start
00:32:30.620to hurt. That'd be the first thing that burned. And then by the time you got to the attack line,
00:32:34.580the quads were burning. The more you would do, your hamstrings would burn and then your butt0.97
00:32:39.680would burn so at some point when you were on your break like when your partner was doing theirs0.99
00:32:44.680you couldn't sit because your ass hurt you'd have to lie down flat on your stomach because that's0.98
00:32:50.440the only way it didn't hurt pieces of your body oh my god you know and you think about the fact0.99
00:32:57.740that i have good memory of that is the weirdest i have memory like pushing up and down the boards
00:33:03.460yeah but i actually would miss serves people would miss serves and then we'd have to if you
00:33:07.380miss a serve and then we'd have to do more boards yeah I remember screaming at Will you're just gonna
00:33:12.200make us do we're just gonna keep doing boards because we're too tired to serve the ball nobody0.94
00:33:18.060can lift up their arm anymore I'm like this is so counterintuitive this is so stupid I used to yell0.99
00:33:26.400at him this is so stupid this has nothing to do with volleyball again he never watched nothing to0.99
00:33:32.980do with volleyball what it did you know and what do you think like it okay so it trained you it0.99
00:33:38.120did whatever it was none none of that was important i think the reason why he made us do them is it
00:33:44.160was to do a hard thing as a team that sucked together i honestly think that was the reason
00:33:49.680i think you did a hard thing as a team i don't think it helped my jump i don't think it helped
00:33:54.680anything else i think we all collectively had to do it i also like the fact if you messed up we all
00:34:01.040did it. If I messed up, we all did it. Meaning you're a team. You, you, you cheer as a team,
00:34:07.340you celebrate as a team and you take the freaking hits as a team. And that's like such an incredible0.55
00:34:14.340lesson because it, I watch kids, you know, obviously I coach and stuff like that, but
00:34:18.820the quickness to blame other people on that court, that's my failure as a coach. I think
00:34:25.860like that's the number one thing is to figure out you go out there you win as a team you lose as a
00:34:32.240team I don't want to hear anything else you you guys can yell at each other you do it behind
00:34:36.520closed doors where nobody else ever sees you but when you're together that's the thing you have to
00:34:42.260be as a collective yeah right and so yeah I think I think that those lessons those lessons I mean
00:34:51.200outside i'm pretty sure my back hurts forever boards and now my shoulder that's why you don't
00:34:57.100you shouldn't have been doing them she just rolled over rolled over in the field position on the side
00:35:03.180she got out of she would just lie down she just lie down flat i'm not gonna do it she i'd be like0.86
00:35:09.360this is stupid i'm not doing this finally you'd be like forget it everyone's in the change room0.77
00:35:15.080i remember i remember when when we first got pulled up so we were playing on the same team0.98
00:35:19.660with like lisa and joanne and those players were just like yeah they were goddesses yeah truly
00:35:24.900goddesses like so good and i sat on the bench like so when i we both got pulled up you played
00:35:31.320at the tail end and then we both got pulled up that year but you played and i pretty much sat
00:35:35.780on the bench right next to will or maybe one down from will oh yeah just in case he would throw a
00:35:41.460chair but come lassa he would put me into serve yeah right so come lassa but you don't want to
00:35:48.160mess that up. So you're on the, you got to know you're sitting on the bench. And the only reason
00:35:53.380he's put you in is to have that hard flow, you know? And he, Gord had this awesome thing too,
00:35:59.880where he held up the clipboard, right? So only your team could see it. And he'd tell you where
00:36:04.420to serve. He'd point. It was like Babe Ruth up in here. I'm like, look, and he'd point. He'd say,
00:36:09.680serve to one or serve to five or whatever. And so you'd look over at him. Now I'm starting to
00:36:15.120sweat even thinking about it, but you look over at him, he'd give you whatever bat signal and then
00:36:19.400you'd have to put the ball where it was going. And I remember thinking like the only thing that
00:36:24.340mattered to me in the world was that. And that's, what's also impressive about sport.
00:36:30.220You can focus. You don't have time to worry about anything else. If your head is somewhere else,
00:36:35.760you get hit in the face with a ball. You can't. So I wonder too, if that's something that athletes
00:36:43.140get that other people don't get. I mean, maybe other people get it in different ways. Maybe
00:36:47.660musicians get it. I've never been a musician. Maybe they get it in a different, but I think
00:36:51.380when you're playing a sport, especially a team sport, right, where it's, where it's very reactive,
00:36:58.420you don't, you have to shut off everything else. Or I don't even think you choose to.
00:37:02.040Everything else gets shut off. And there's a simplicity and a calm to that, that when I start
00:37:08.620thinking about mental health struggles or i start thinking about kids that go through anxiety and
00:37:13.440stuff like that i mean we never talked about anxiety when you're kids right but we just we
00:37:19.080shut up we had it but we just of course we had it when you talk when you talk to kids now i'm
00:37:24.980astounded like when you we talk as adults and you're like oh yeah this is what was going on0.64
00:37:29.680with me i'm like what we never talked yeah nobody ever talked about anything bad no we just you
00:37:36.440know whether it was the volleyball court or not but i think there is something about
00:37:40.760shutting that piece of your brain off and i don't know there's a lot of sports where
00:37:49.520you you wouldn't like running you you're a bit of a runner right you like to um yep seems horrible0.81
00:37:54.940but yeah it seems that's a lot of time to think when you're running and then that's but that's
00:38:00.220why a lot of people run you either run or you don't like there's no in between i don't you're
00:38:05.200other, and yeah, you're either a runner or you're not. But you can spend a lot of time in your head.
00:38:09.960That's why I'll go for a run. Yeah. So I just need to think I'm just going to go for a run.
00:38:13.960And that's amazing. But that's where volleyball, you don't, you don't go play volleyball to think
00:38:18.120you don't have time. Right. So it's this very cool shutoff mechanism that I think
00:38:23.300a lot of kids don't have. And I think part of the problem is too, you know, luckily enough,
00:38:29.940we loved volleyball, which was like a staple sport. I think some kids, if they're just not
00:38:34.760good at it, right. You're not good at basketball. You're not good at volleyball, whatever.
00:38:40.340But you need something, you need an outlet. Right. And I think that's what, like, if you want to
00:38:45.920labelize it, like, so now, so back then you didn't know what you needed. Right. And it was so good
00:38:51.100for us to be able to have that outlet. But now we know that if, you know, kids these days don't
00:38:57.300have an outlet of anything whether it's sports whether it's art whether it's public speaking or
00:39:03.100you know like whatever whatever it is how many kids have an outlet of public speaking sorry
00:39:07.580it's not public speaking so maybe they just do I don't know maybe they work on podcasts like I
00:39:12.580don't know like maybe this is their outlet like media is their outlet something you you need
00:39:18.480something other than school for example like you need something other than school to focus on and
00:39:24.160other than your friends, your relationships, I feel, because you need, so whether it's for
00:39:29.340yourself or for a team and whatever it is, right, just have like another focus and something just
00:39:36.220for yourself. How much of your confidence and your self-identity do you think came from that?
00:39:43.180From being good at it and being on that team? A lot, for sure. Like just being involved in
00:39:48.920team sports teach you so much. It teaches you. But that team for you. But that team for me?
00:39:53.780that team for you, do you like, if let's say I pulled it away and you didn't have it,
00:39:59.360what I'm asking is, because honestly, I look back at that moment, I look back at that team
00:40:03.780and, and, you know, the, everything, every piece that we've talked about that I, that I got from
00:40:11.240it. And I, and I think, I don't think I would be even 50% as confident, or I would have had
00:40:21.860to struggle a lot more in a lot different ways to be able to have that as it pertains to
00:40:29.500everything like that team gave me confidence to not care about you know boyfriends well that
00:40:37.400might have been a different play that might have been a different thing when we reconnected I'm
00:40:43.180like oh okay so um who knew different who knew who knew but yeah I think that but I wouldn't
00:40:51.380have had the confidence to like even think about playing a varsity sport at university level but
00:40:57.940do you think it made you go into because I know you're very successful in your career I know you're
00:41:02.260successful academically do you think that it built for me I feel like it built something
00:41:08.600that I didn't even know that I needed foundationally that made me walk into a biology
00:41:15.840classroom with a bit of a pop caller already that the two have nothing to do with each other
00:41:20.480Would you understand what I mean? No, for sure. No, you absolutely, you get, I got, I had a lot
00:41:25.120of confidence for that. And then I think it's even what I talked about before is like, you have
00:41:30.320different groups of people and you have your people. These are your, this is what you learn
00:41:35.140too. You can have your people. It doesn't necessarily have to be the same person. It
00:41:39.520doesn't have to be one person. Right. Like that's what I learned. You can build relationships with
00:41:45.060people that you would have no I like you wouldn't pick out of a crowd to be your friend for example
00:41:51.220right I would have the confidence to go up and to start a conversation with somebody else because
00:41:56.700maybe I saw them holding a volleyball or like I saw them doing something that I thought was
00:42:00.380interesting or just ask them a question about their life it's so true when I think of like
00:42:04.580and and again like we've been out of high school since 94 and I could still call easily six people
00:42:11.760from that team. Yeah. Like you, like I called Sally. I texted Sally. I haven't chatted with
00:42:17.100her forever. And then I just texted her. I said, uh, I need you to do a podcast. She's like,
00:42:21.300why? Yeah. Can you drive in my school? We, it's not like we talk every day or anything,
00:42:24.800but there's a bond that exists there that is insurmountable. And it just comes back like that.
00:42:31.740And I think that there's a, there's a foundation to that, but I think you're right. You and I,