July 16, 2024 • 27 mins
Opposite hitter Annie Drews may have been a latecomer to volleyball, but that hasn’t stopped her from a pro career that’s sent her to Puerto Rico, Italy, Japan and more. The Elkhart, Indiana, native overcame that slow start to earn a spot on the U.S. National Team, and she powered the squad to the gold medal at the 2020 Olympic Games. After yet another nudge along her path, she’s coming home to play in front of family and friends with LOVB Madison Volleyball. Alongside host Tiffany Oshinsky, Annie reflects on her path from aspiring dancer to being part of the foundation of a new era in volleyball.
Chapters include:
- The growth spurt that helped Annie rediscover volleyball
- Being a late bloomer in the game
- Nudged toward a pro career
- Day-to-day as a professional athlete
- From Tokyo to the altar
- Mapping out the road to LOVB
Follow Annie on Instagram, TikTok and X (formerly Twitter)..
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Host: Tiffany Oshinsky
Senior Producer: Anya Alvarez is our Senior Producer
Executive Producers: Carrie Stett, Tamara Deike, and Lindsay Hoffman
Theme Music: Pancakes by Eric W. Mast, Jr
Sound Designer: Max Lorenzen
Serving Pancakes is an iHeart Women's Sports Production, in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi, I'm Tifney Oshinsky, and this is serving pancakes. Nope,
not a podcast about food. This is a podcast about
volleyball and more to you. A pancake is a fluffy,
syrup drenched breakfast food button volleyball. A pancake is a
high effort move when a player flattens her hand against
the ground to keep the ball in play. And that's
(00:24):
us digging into high efforts that are moving sports forward.
Listen in as I talk with the people making the
biggest impacts on global volleyball and women's sports perspectives, insights,
and behind the scenes stories, all with the side of pancakes.
Today's episode features the greatest woman's indoor volleyball player from Indiana,
(00:45):
Annie Drews. Annie is an Olympic gold medalist who has
been a member of the US national team since twenty
seventeen and will be competing this summer in Paris. An
All American at Purdue University, she was named the twenty
nineteen USA Volleyball Fee Indoor Player of the Year, and
she played on.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
The US collegiate national team.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
She has played professionally in Puerto Rico, Italy, Turkey, and Japan,
where she's been recognized with multiple Best Opposite and MVP Awards.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Hi, Annie, how are you are you?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Thank you sound blanks for having me already? Did like
all the hard words?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, you know, pancakes. They're not too hard to make.
You like pancakes, I'm hoping.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Well, how do you like them?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Maybe a little fruit two blueberry pancakes.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
So Annie, I have to start from the very beginning,
and one of the first questions I have to ask
you is your name is actually Andrea.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
So why Annie.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
That's a really great question. I thought. I'm thirty years old,
I should probably know the answer.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
I'm actually named after a babysitter that my parents really
loved for my two older siblings. And I was actually
born on Christmas Day, and this like sweet babysitter came
over at sixteen, gave up for Christmas Day to be
with my siblings. While with my parents went to the
hospital at Hackney. So that's why they named me Andrea.
But I don't know why Annie. They call me Annie
Ann in college briefly people call me Andy for a while,
(02:06):
so kind of just.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah, I like it.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I mean, Annie's Andrey's very pretty too, But I whatever
works for you.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I go by Tiff or Tiffany whatever you know people
want to call me.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Yeah right, yep.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
So let's go back to your childhood a little more,
a little after you were born on Christmas Day.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
How did you get into volleyball?
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I feel like I've had a really funny like path
in volleyball, especially like through childhood.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
So I played in elementary school.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
I played for my elementary school team for a small
club team, a local team.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Wasn't doing any crazy travel or anything like that. It
was very local club in elementary but like just literally
like probably two months of like local terms.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Amazing.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Yeah, but kids.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Now are like traveling all over and getting on planes
and doing these big things. So it felt very simple
compared to how.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Things are now.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
But then actually I remember going to my parents when
I started middle school of being like, I don't.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Want to play volleyball anymore.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
I want to be a cheerleader and I want to
be a competitive hip hop dancer. So that was like
Karch Loves's story, our national team coach, that was like.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
My calling for a minute. I love it, and I
loved it. I had a lot of fun. I did
miss competing.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
I remember like being on the sideline of a football
game and getting like so into it, and then they'd
be like, you're supposed to just like stand to be still,
you know, wait, but in between cheers and stuff. But yeah,
and then I just had a huge growth spurt and
I think I just missed the competing aspect of my friends,
and so straight out for my high school team and
got back to volleyball.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Then, So the love of dance and being a cheerleader
did that come from an early age? Did you love
dancing when you were a little kid.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Honestly, No, I come from a big basketball family. My
brother's seven years older than I am, and so in
elementary school I watched him play college.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Basketball, and I just remember seeing.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
High level cheerleaders and dancers that like have to at
something that I was like, they're like so pretty and
they look they're having so much fun and it is
a really cool skill, like just learning how to do
the tumbling and the stunts and things like that.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
But learned quickly that it was not.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Something I was the best at, and then found my
way back to volleyball and definitely haven't regretted it.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I can understand.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Yeah, I did gymnastics when I was little, and there
was a point when I hit eight, like I think
I was eight years old, and it got very competitive,
very fast.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
And at eight I was like, um, I'm good.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Yeah, And I just saw I mean, I saw the cards.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
I was like, you know what, I am six foot two,
I've got big feet, I've got big hands.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
This is gonna go downhill quickly for a girl like me.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
And I was like, I can be much better suited
in a different sport.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Hey, guys, let's talk hype for a second, because volleyball
is definitely a tall person's game. On the current US
Women's Olympic volleyball roster, the average height is six feet
two and a half inch, with middle hitter Dana Reki
the tallest at six foot eight and libero Justine Wangarantez
the shortest at five foot six. Gotta give a little
(05:10):
love to the short players who are usually Libero's right,
and Annie is just above the average at six foot four.
I also just want to point out, real quick, Annie
isn't the only player who pursued other sports before a
growth spurt derailed their plans. Both Jordan Larson and Ronnie
Jones Perry competed in gymnastics, but how to stop dude
being too tall? So thank goodness volleyball gave them a
(05:32):
place to compete all right. Back to Annie, how old
were you.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
When you hit your growth spurt?
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Probably freshman year of high school, maybe the end of
eighth grade.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Was that awkward for you?
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Or were there other girls that were the same height
as you that you kind of like fit in? Because
I have never been tall. Yeah, I was the only
time I was ever tall is in first grade. I
was in the back row of my class picture, and
then every other year after that, I was always sitting
down there.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah, so I don't know if it was awkward.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
I came from a really tall fan, so I felt
very normal around my family, and then once I found volleyball,
I kind of played my freshman sophomore years, I was
playing on an eighteen's team, so I was playing with
a lot of girls who were also maybe a little
taller or around.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
The same height. So I think once I found my
niche in volleyball, I felt very normal.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
I will say I think it's gotten a lot easier
now with fashion. I remember like crying trying to find
a prom dress long enough, and I think as time's
gone on, it's gotten a lot easier for tall girls.
Being a tall kid twenty years ago or fifteen years ago,
I think that holy was just maybe logistically harder to
find things and fit in. But I found my confidence
with it pretty early and realized it could be a
(06:41):
huge advantage in the sport. And also being left handed,
so I saw it more as an asset than like
a confidence breaker.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
And before you got to volleyball, because you said that
your family was a big basketball family, did you feel
pressure to play basketball at all or did you just
know that volleyball was kind of the sport that you
wanted to be part of.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
I tried basketball. I was just so.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Not good at it.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Before Annie continues explaining why she chose volleyball over basketball.
The reason I brought this up is because her family
has a history of amazing basketball players. Her dad was
a star player at Ball State University and coached at
Elkhart High School for ten years. Her brother, Derek remains
the all time leading scorer at Elkhart, then went on
(07:27):
to play at Western Michigan, and her grandfather, Dwayne Peterson,
averaged a double double his final two seasons at Michigan.
State after seeing a sectional scoring record at Elkhart High
back in nineteen fifty two. But Annie's choice to step
on to a different court seems like it was the
right one, given that she's about to compete in her
second Olympics.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
All right, now, back to Annie.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
I just felt like the coordination was just so not
natural for me, and all of the running. I remember
really not enjoying running, and so I think volleyball was
a way to still use my height and to use power,
but it felt just a lot more natural for me.
So never really had the pressure to play basketball, but
I definitely tried it and learned pretty quickly. I was like,
(08:10):
it's not for me.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
So you started volleyball in high school.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
So it's kind of like a late bloomer in a
way when it comes to joining the sport, because nowadays
you hear kids, I mean I started at twelve, A
lot of kids start when they're younger. So do you
kind of feel like a role model for the kids
who start sports late?
Speaker 2 (08:28):
In a way?
Speaker 4 (08:29):
I definitely would have classified myself as, yeah, like a
late starter maybe in some ways a late bloomer.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
And I think even.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Through college I had a good college career, but I
think when I got to the national team, I was
definitely one of those people who had a lot of
potential but definitely was maybe a skip and.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
A beat behind.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
So not just like in high school, but throughout I
feel like I've had a really unique path to my success.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
So yeah, I definitely think that I.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Hope that I've been able to make other people feel like, oh,
maybe there is a chance if I just stick with
it a little longer, if I look at it from
a different lens.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Because that was totally my reality.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
So yeah, I definitely think being a late bloomer is
very possible and pretty common, especially for tall girls that age,
so I would hope.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
So, so, what was like the recruiting process for you
to go to college. Did you know that you wanted
to go to a Big ten school? Did you know
that you wanted to play? What was that like?
Speaker 4 (09:33):
So I grew up in a small town in northern
Indiana near South Bend, so really close to Notre Dame,
and I think maybe my college interest started there. Knowing
Notre Dame at the time, that was where our high
school and club teams would go and like watch some
of their games and kind of saw volleyball like on
the big stage or at like the big level, and
so I think that's kind of how it started. But
(09:55):
I learned quickly Northern Indiana is the hub of Big Ten.
Like you drive two to three hours in any direction
and you're at like a Big ten school, and Big
Ten at the time and still to this.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Day, was one of the strongest, if not the strongest
volleyball conference.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
So I think I just realized that there was a
lot of good volleyball really close to home, and that's
kind of how I started learning. Due was one of
the first schools I looked at for do A Notre Dame,
and then I kind of expanded the search from there.
But ultimately I think I ended up choosing Prudue for
a lot of reasons, but it felt like a place
that could develop me well, but also I could have
a lot of chances. Especially early on, I think I was,
(10:34):
you know, to that late bloomer aspect. A lot of
places wanted meet a red shirt, kind of develop and
wait my turn, and I just really wanted to play,
and I wanted to play all the time from point
one my freshman year. And you know, I think I
commend people who have patients at that age to think otherwise,
but I was.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Like, I just want to get out there.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
So Perdue was this awesome opportunity that allowed me to
kind of have both this like high level program and conference,
but also get me on the floor pretty early. And
not only that, it was two and a half hours
from home, so knowing I had friends from high school,
friends from club volleyball going there, whether it's to be
students or to be student athletes, and knowing my parents
(11:13):
could be pretty involved, I could see them a lot.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
It was like it became kind of a no brainer
at some point.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
That's so nice. Does your family really close?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Yeah, I would say so.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
I have an older brother who's seven years older, and
I'm an older sister who's two years older.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
And my brother, I think just being a little bit older.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
You got married when I was like in high school
or maybe my freshman year of college. So having another
sister and then his kids also now are eight and four,
and so just having them kind of be alongside me
in my career through college but also professionally made me
like kind of put a new importance on volleyball and
just like I'm not just doing it for me or
(11:51):
for the paycheck or for the glory. It's kind of
to show them like what's kind of out there if
you work hard at something. So definitely very close to
my family and excited that they'll get to see me
play a.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Lot more life.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Yeah, so sure.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Now I've read that you weren't actually sure if you
wanted to play pro and keep going after college. So
what did you want to do when you graduated? What
was kind of your thought process if you didn't go pro.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
I was a hospitality and tourism management major, so that's
basically kind of like a business and managerial degree for
hotels and restaurants and launching events things like that.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
And I definitely enjoyed that side of things.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
And I think a lot of college athletes, after spending
four years totally dedicated to something, you kind of do
wonder what's like on the other side. So I definitely
like flirted with the idea of not playing and looked
heavily at that. And I got an offer to play
professionally in Puerto Rico right after college, which was pretty
common at the time to leave like right after Christmas
and the holidays your senior year and go play in
(12:54):
the spring in Puerto Rico. And I think, honestly, with
the pro side of things, I for a long time
time wasn't sure like how long I wanted to do this.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
I still struggle with that sometimes how long I want
to do this?
Speaker 4 (13:04):
But I feel like I'm very connected to my faith
and I feel like God has put small opportunities in
front of me and just like nudged me to say yes.
And so it wasn't looking at my career ten years
ago being like I want this decade long pursuit of
an Olympics, and it wasn't like that for me. But
it was a lot of little moments of God being like,
here's this opportunity and let's think about it.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
And then like nudging me in that direction. And it's
been beautiful.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
It was gonna say, are you glad that you have
chosen this path and that you're still doing Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
And every year it takes on new meaning.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
I mean now with all the opportunities coming up to
play at home and all the opportunities for college players,
just my hope is that this next year I can
help in some ways like lay a brick into something
that in the future my kids or my niece. They'll
have options to pursue playing after college in a lot
of different ways.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
There's not just one one route to do it.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
And so I'm super grateful of the career I've had,
but I think just super grateful of the ways God's
used volleyball to teach me more about like the world
and like myself and what all this can look like.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
So I hope that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
And you get to travel to all the different countries
to play. So what has kind of been your favorite
location if you even have one, Can you give me
an example of something that you absolutely loved or an
adventure that you got to go on from traveling and
playing internationally with these teams.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
We have like our pro seasons, which are about six
to eight months, and then we spend the rest of
the time with national teams. So I preface that because
if anyone's listening and they don't really know about how
the schedule works, half the year is in a foreign
country with foreign teammates and you're playing for like one club,
and the other half is typically traveling with Team USA,
(14:50):
and that's where we represent, you know, the United States,
and where we try to pursue things like an Olympic
gold medal, So two.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Very different experiences.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
I've loved overseas playing profess because learning to live in
another culture, in another country is just the most eye
opening thing, the most humbling thing you can ever do.
Like you think you know something about yourself or about
the world, you live somewhere else and you're like, oh
my gosh, like I have so much more to learn.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
So I think that part's been really cool. Obviously. The
glamorous side is people see what we do on off
days and they see us on like a.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Boat in Italy or like on a food tour in Japan,
and it's like, oh my gosh, I want to do that.
But the day to day is really hard but really rewarding,
so I'm glad I got to learn those lessons. And
then with national team, yeah, we've just we've really been
all over and getting to see different styles of volleyball
has been really fun. How to do different countries run
their offensive and defensive systems, but also how they just
(15:43):
like develop their youth differently and what they prioritize.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
So yeah, that's more of a volleyball answer, I guess,
or a life answer.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
But the travel has been amazing, but just like I've
learned so much along the way, and I feel like
I'm always still learning.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
What is a day today life like as a professional
walklleyball player.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Oh that's a good question.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I always wondered that because I'm thinking because I mean,
I played club and I was going to play in college.
I was recruited to go to Penn State, and so
that was like the dream.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
But then I got into film.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
School and I was like, that's that's you know for me.
I graduated high school in O four, so there was
no to me that I did not know about professionals.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
So I went academics over athletics.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
And then I always think back now, I'm like, huh,
could I have done that?
Speaker 4 (16:27):
But it would have likes so cool and you're doing.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Get like a volleyball capacity that's like really cool.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, and and I'm loving this that was, but you know,
there's always that thought like what would life have been like?
So I'm always curious, like what would my life have
been like had I played professionally like you are, you know,
attempted to even try to play at the US well,
which I don't think I could have, But I.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Think that's an interesting question. There's a lot of variants.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
It depends on like what country you're playing in or
if you're talking about like a professional day versus like
a day with TV USA. But generally for being I'm
typically a pretty early riser, Like I'm a morning person.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
I'll wake up, have coffee.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
I like to do some like devotional journal prayer time.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Before I leave the house.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
That to me is like have like kind of a
slow morning at home for myself, and.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Then it's very nice like meditate that morning for you.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
It's I just I love being up early and it's quiet.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
And then I think, for me, when I can make.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Volleyball feel like a part of my day versus my
whole day. Typically I tend to like hold things a
little looser and feel more relaxed to them.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Make sense, So.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
Slow morning and then head to the gym. Typically starts
with some like warm up and like rehab activities.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
So as an opposite, that means get your shoulder ready.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
I've had some foot and heel problems throughout my career,
like nothing major, but just make sure I'm getting a
good warm up for those things activating well. And then
typically we'll have ball practice maybe in the beginning part
where with more like people in your position, and we're
doing more like skills specif work like we'll have an
attack period of time and I'll have a blocking period
of time and a serving period of time, and then
(18:05):
as the day goes on.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
We'll do more like six on six volleyball or competition willeyball.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
And then after that typically we'll either go right into
strength and conditioning where we have a weak program and
a little bit of cardio, or we'll have lunch and
then do that and then yeah, in the evening, maybe
take I don't know, late afternoon and take a nap,
get a coffee. I like to take an afternoon walk
just to kind of shake out the body after the
longboarding of moving, and then cook dinner and watch some
(18:32):
film a lot of days just to kind of see
how you did that day, or watch some things about
your next opponent, and then chill time like do my nails,
watch a movie, visit with friends, play games, things like that.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
It's your like go to movie genre.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
Honestly, I feel like my husband and I have really
grown to love like Netflix documentaries.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
I like nothing that like specific.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
But just learning things.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Yeah, and some of these are just so wild you
just can't look away. And I'm like, I love that.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
I think Apple TV does a lot of great shows,
So yeah, I guess maybe less movies and more like
find a show and whether we're together or doing long distance,
like Okay, tonight, we're watching episode four or something like that.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
So you got married a month after you won the
gold medal in Tokyo.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
So what was that like?
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Going from training trying to make the twelve man roster
making it Olympics, ending up playing a.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Lot and then winning gold. Yeah, and then a month
later getting married, Like what but what was that realer?
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Closer?
Speaker 4 (19:47):
I like, it was like the most chaotic month, Like
I look back and it was seriously such a blur.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
I think my husband and.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
My support system and my planner we kind of said,
once July hits and planning is off the table, I
don't need to know anything, like if my caterer quits tomorrow,
I will find out when we get home. So we
kind of just put the wedding on the back burner
and just made it all about the Olympics.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
And then, yeah, the Olympics.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
Obviously we had a really amazing story and experience there
and then it was just probably a week of just celebrations,
media like.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Chaos, Like everywhere you went. It was like we had paparazzi.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
But I remember being like in Costco and people being like,
I just saw you, like on NBC, you just want
this gold medal and it was just so funny. But yeah,
some media stuff, phone calls, things like that, and then
a week of chill time in Indiana with my family
just kind of off the grid, and then we just
flent right into.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
All the wedding fun. So it was really cool.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
It was what was really special was seeing a lot
of my national team teammates and coaches in my small
town court fields at my wedding, just like three weeks after.
I think that was just a really special, like visual
I'll never forget. These people could be like anywhere in
the world right now and they chose to track it here. Yeah,
(21:06):
so that was like my eyes did not know what
to do with that image because it was like my
world's colliding.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
So that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Yeah, it was chaos in the best way.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Speaking of Indiana, did you know that the Indianapolis Star
they did like a best of sports by the Numbers
and for eighteen they had Peyton Manning because Peyton Manning,
but you were the honorable mention. If Peyton Manning didn't exist,
you would have been number eighteen for best in sports
of Indiana.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Did you know that?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
I did not know that, and that was my college number.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
I feel like that's kind of that's pretty funny, oppressive.
Out of the whole state of Indiana for number eighteen,
they chose you. I mean, like I said, behind Peyton Manning,
but that's.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
No, yeah, we don't invest.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
But no, it was really cool to see how like
my high school and my town and our state in
general really came behind and I felt a lot of
support throughout the Olympics.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
All Right, one more fun fact for you guys. Along
with Annie, Indiana has produced a lot of amazing female athletes,
including w NBA star and Olympic gold medalist Skyler digg
and Smith, Olympic medalist swimmer Lily King, and US women's
national soccer team member and Olympian Lauren Holiday. So Annie
is in some great company there, but she does have
(22:21):
a unique achievement under her belt as a volleyball player
from Indiana. So here's Annie to talk about that.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
I'm the first volleyball player to ever be named the
Olympic in our volleyball roster. So I didn't want to
carry that lightly. I think it could mean a lot
of cool things for our sport, in our in our country,
in our home state. So felt a lot of support
along the way, which was really cool.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Well, now you get to play here. I mean, what
does that mean for your family and your husband? Are
they excited that you're not going away for months? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Now?
Speaker 4 (22:51):
Yeah. So my plan actually was honestly to retire after Paris.
You know, this League one opportunity came around, and I
versus no, I think I should retire.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
I think I should retire it.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
And the more I learned, and the more I saw
people signing, and it's starting to come to fruition, It's like,
I think I've never really regret not doing it. So
I remember saying yes to League one and calling my
parents and they were in the car together and they
were just so funny, just very happy.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
And then an hour later, my dad's like.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Okay, map Quest says it's three hours and thirty seven minutes.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
To Madison, Wisconsin.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
So my parents, along with all of our parents, are
just gonna be total groupies, like in the best way,
which is gonna be really fun.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
So what are you hoping that your legacy will be
when it's all said and done, when you finally decide
that you know the opportunity to finally retire presents itself
to you, what do you kind of hope that your
legacy is.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
I want to be remembered as like a player and
teammate who matured.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Along the way, who was really learned how to be
good in a lot of different roles.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
And I think that that's something that I've had to learn,
not always the easy way.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I just think, you know.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
A lot of your college professional career, you're kind of
like the big dog, and then you get to the
national team a gym and you're just so not a
big fish in a small pond, if that makes sense.
So I think just learning, how can I be good
as a starter? How can I be good as a
non starter? How can I be good as someone who's
coming off the bench for three points, coming off the
(24:19):
bench to finish the game, And not just physically or statistically,
but like mentally emotionally, Like how do my teammates know
no matter what, they're gonna know what they're gonna get.
I think that is something that I've really worked hard
on getting better at, and I hope that that's something
I can model well and people can see that, but
also that I can help people with in the future.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
And what advice do you have for kids who are
starting up in sports volleyball?
Speaker 2 (24:44):
What kind of advice do you have for them?
Speaker 4 (24:46):
Honestly, like, and it doesn't even have to be about sports.
You just have to find something that you really love
to do every day. And I think when you're young,
it can be like my parents sign me up for it,
or my friends like to do it, but I just
don't know if that's really going to get you very far.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
And if you just enjoy it, like that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
But I think if you really want to see gains
and improvements and success in something, or you really just
want to be like satisfied and who you are and
what you're contributing, I think you just got to find
something that you really enjoy doing and not do it
just for other people.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Lastly, sports, women's sports in general has transformed and involved
so much since you've played, especially since I've played. Where
do you see this sport in just women's sports in
general in five ten years.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
If it's where we want it to be, it should
be like pretty unimaginable, Like I don't think we should
be able to know what that looks like. I think
the cool thing about volleyball, we've seen it grow at
this like exponential level and we're learning quickly that there's
interest here and how do we capitalize on that, not
just for a monetary value, but how do we equip
the next generation so they can match that level when
(25:51):
they get there.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
And I don't know.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
What it'll look like, but I'm really excited to hopefully
help lay a brick. And I think it takes a
lot of talented people and a lot of experienced players
just saying yes to opportunities and seeing how far we
can take these things.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Well, Annie, thank you so much, cheering. I appreciate you
joining me pancakes and chatting about Paulay.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Serving Pancakes is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership
with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. Production by League One Volleyball I'm your host
Tiffany Oshinsky. Anya oliverrez Is our senior producer. Our executive
producers are Carrie Stett, Tamaradike and Lindsay Hoffman. Our marketing
(26:41):
lead is Jawara Parker. Sound mixing by Max Lorenzen. Our
theme music is Pancakes by Eric W. Mast Junior special
thanks to Annie Drews. We'll be back next week with
Justine Wangarantis, who earned Best Libero honors at the Tokyo
Olympics when Team USA won their first and who will
be back defending her title in Paris. Stay tuned for
(27:04):
what we serve up next. H
Hi, I'm Tifney Oshinsky, and this is serving pancakes. Nope,
not a podcast about food. This is a podcast about
volleyball and more to you. A pancake is a fluffy,
syrup drenched breakfast food button volleyball. A pancake is a
high effort move when a player flattens her hand against
the ground to keep the ball in play. And that's
(00:24):
us digging into high efforts that are moving sports forward.
Listen in as I talk with the people making the
biggest impacts on global volleyball and women's sports perspectives, insights,
and behind the scenes stories, all with the side of pancakes.
Today's episode features the greatest woman's indoor volleyball player from Indiana,
(00:45):
Annie Drews. Annie is an Olympic gold medalist who has
been a member of the US national team since twenty
seventeen and will be competing this summer in Paris. An
All American at Purdue University, she was named the twenty
nineteen USA Volleyball Fee Indoor Player of the Year, and
she played on.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
The US collegiate national team.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
She has played professionally in Puerto Rico, Italy, Turkey, and Japan,
where she's been recognized with multiple Best Opposite and MVP Awards.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Hi, Annie, how are you are you?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Thank you sound blanks for having me already? Did like
all the hard words?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, you know, pancakes. They're not too hard to make.
You like pancakes, I'm hoping.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Well, how do you like them?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Maybe a little fruit two blueberry pancakes.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
So Annie, I have to start from the very beginning,
and one of the first questions I have to ask
you is your name is actually Andrea.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
So why Annie.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
That's a really great question. I thought. I'm thirty years old,
I should probably know the answer.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
I'm actually named after a babysitter that my parents really
loved for my two older siblings. And I was actually
born on Christmas Day, and this like sweet babysitter came
over at sixteen, gave up for Christmas Day to be
with my siblings. While with my parents went to the
hospital at Hackney. So that's why they named me Andrea.
But I don't know why Annie. They call me Annie
Ann in college briefly people call me Andy for a while,
(02:06):
so kind of just.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah, I like it.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I mean, Annie's Andrey's very pretty too, But I whatever
works for you.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I go by Tiff or Tiffany whatever you know people
want to call me.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Yeah right, yep.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
So let's go back to your childhood a little more,
a little after you were born on Christmas Day.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
How did you get into volleyball?
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I feel like I've had a really funny like path
in volleyball, especially like through childhood.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
So I played in elementary school.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
I played for my elementary school team for a small
club team, a local team.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Wasn't doing any crazy travel or anything like that. It
was very local club in elementary but like just literally
like probably two months of like local terms.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Amazing.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Yeah, but kids.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Now are like traveling all over and getting on planes
and doing these big things. So it felt very simple
compared to how.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Things are now.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
But then actually I remember going to my parents when
I started middle school of being like, I don't.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Want to play volleyball anymore.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
I want to be a cheerleader and I want to
be a competitive hip hop dancer. So that was like
Karch Loves's story, our national team coach, that was like.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
My calling for a minute. I love it, and I
loved it. I had a lot of fun. I did
miss competing.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
I remember like being on the sideline of a football
game and getting like so into it, and then they'd
be like, you're supposed to just like stand to be still,
you know, wait, but in between cheers and stuff. But yeah,
and then I just had a huge growth spurt and
I think I just missed the competing aspect of my friends,
and so straight out for my high school team and
got back to volleyball.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Then, So the love of dance and being a cheerleader
did that come from an early age? Did you love
dancing when you were a little kid.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Honestly, No, I come from a big basketball family. My
brother's seven years older than I am, and so in
elementary school I watched him play college.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Basketball, and I just remember seeing.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
High level cheerleaders and dancers that like have to at
something that I was like, they're like so pretty and
they look they're having so much fun and it is
a really cool skill, like just learning how to do
the tumbling and the stunts and things like that.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
But learned quickly that it was not.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Something I was the best at, and then found my
way back to volleyball and definitely haven't regretted it.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I can understand.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Yeah, I did gymnastics when I was little, and there
was a point when I hit eight, like I think
I was eight years old, and it got very competitive,
very fast.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
And at eight I was like, um, I'm good.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Yeah, And I just saw I mean, I saw the cards.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
I was like, you know what, I am six foot two,
I've got big feet, I've got big hands.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
This is gonna go downhill quickly for a girl like me.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
And I was like, I can be much better suited
in a different sport.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Hey, guys, let's talk hype for a second, because volleyball
is definitely a tall person's game. On the current US
Women's Olympic volleyball roster, the average height is six feet
two and a half inch, with middle hitter Dana Reki
the tallest at six foot eight and libero Justine Wangarantez
the shortest at five foot six. Gotta give a little
(05:10):
love to the short players who are usually Libero's right,
and Annie is just above the average at six foot four.
I also just want to point out, real quick, Annie
isn't the only player who pursued other sports before a
growth spurt derailed their plans. Both Jordan Larson and Ronnie
Jones Perry competed in gymnastics, but how to stop dude
being too tall? So thank goodness volleyball gave them a
(05:32):
place to compete all right. Back to Annie, how old
were you.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
When you hit your growth spurt?
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Probably freshman year of high school, maybe the end of
eighth grade.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Was that awkward for you?
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Or were there other girls that were the same height
as you that you kind of like fit in? Because
I have never been tall. Yeah, I was the only
time I was ever tall is in first grade. I
was in the back row of my class picture, and
then every other year after that, I was always sitting
down there.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah, so I don't know if it was awkward.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
I came from a really tall fan, so I felt
very normal around my family, and then once I found volleyball,
I kind of played my freshman sophomore years, I was
playing on an eighteen's team, so I was playing with
a lot of girls who were also maybe a little
taller or around.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
The same height. So I think once I found my
niche in volleyball, I felt very normal.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
I will say I think it's gotten a lot easier
now with fashion. I remember like crying trying to find
a prom dress long enough, and I think as time's
gone on, it's gotten a lot easier for tall girls.
Being a tall kid twenty years ago or fifteen years ago,
I think that holy was just maybe logistically harder to
find things and fit in. But I found my confidence
with it pretty early and realized it could be a
(06:41):
huge advantage in the sport. And also being left handed,
so I saw it more as an asset than like
a confidence breaker.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
And before you got to volleyball, because you said that
your family was a big basketball family, did you feel
pressure to play basketball at all or did you just
know that volleyball was kind of the sport that you
wanted to be part of.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
I tried basketball. I was just so.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Not good at it.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Before Annie continues explaining why she chose volleyball over basketball.
The reason I brought this up is because her family
has a history of amazing basketball players. Her dad was
a star player at Ball State University and coached at
Elkhart High School for ten years. Her brother, Derek remains
the all time leading scorer at Elkhart, then went on
(07:27):
to play at Western Michigan, and her grandfather, Dwayne Peterson,
averaged a double double his final two seasons at Michigan.
State after seeing a sectional scoring record at Elkhart High
back in nineteen fifty two. But Annie's choice to step
on to a different court seems like it was the
right one, given that she's about to compete in her
second Olympics.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
All right, now, back to Annie.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
I just felt like the coordination was just so not
natural for me, and all of the running. I remember
really not enjoying running, and so I think volleyball was
a way to still use my height and to use power,
but it felt just a lot more natural for me.
So never really had the pressure to play basketball, but
I definitely tried it and learned pretty quickly. I was like,
(08:10):
it's not for me.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
So you started volleyball in high school.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
So it's kind of like a late bloomer in a
way when it comes to joining the sport, because nowadays
you hear kids, I mean I started at twelve, A
lot of kids start when they're younger. So do you
kind of feel like a role model for the kids
who start sports late?
Speaker 2 (08:28):
In a way?
Speaker 4 (08:29):
I definitely would have classified myself as, yeah, like a
late starter maybe in some ways a late bloomer.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
And I think even.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Through college I had a good college career, but I
think when I got to the national team, I was
definitely one of those people who had a lot of
potential but definitely was maybe a skip and.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
A beat behind.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
So not just like in high school, but throughout I
feel like I've had a really unique path to my success.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
So yeah, I definitely think that I.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Hope that I've been able to make other people feel like, oh,
maybe there is a chance if I just stick with
it a little longer, if I look at it from
a different lens.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Because that was totally my reality.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
So yeah, I definitely think being a late bloomer is
very possible and pretty common, especially for tall girls that age,
so I would hope.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
So, so, what was like the recruiting process for you
to go to college. Did you know that you wanted
to go to a Big ten school? Did you know
that you wanted to play? What was that like?
Speaker 4 (09:33):
So I grew up in a small town in northern
Indiana near South Bend, so really close to Notre Dame,
and I think maybe my college interest started there. Knowing
Notre Dame at the time, that was where our high
school and club teams would go and like watch some
of their games and kind of saw volleyball like on
the big stage or at like the big level, and
so I think that's kind of how it started. But
(09:55):
I learned quickly Northern Indiana is the hub of Big Ten.
Like you drive two to three hours in any direction
and you're at like a Big ten school, and Big
Ten at the time and still to this.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Day, was one of the strongest, if not the strongest
volleyball conference.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
So I think I just realized that there was a
lot of good volleyball really close to home, and that's
kind of how I started learning. Due was one of
the first schools I looked at for do A Notre Dame,
and then I kind of expanded the search from there.
But ultimately I think I ended up choosing Prudue for
a lot of reasons, but it felt like a place
that could develop me well, but also I could have
a lot of chances. Especially early on, I think I was,
(10:34):
you know, to that late bloomer aspect. A lot of
places wanted meet a red shirt, kind of develop and
wait my turn, and I just really wanted to play,
and I wanted to play all the time from point
one my freshman year. And you know, I think I
commend people who have patients at that age to think otherwise,
but I was.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Like, I just want to get out there.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
So Perdue was this awesome opportunity that allowed me to
kind of have both this like high level program and conference,
but also get me on the floor pretty early. And
not only that, it was two and a half hours
from home, so knowing I had friends from high school,
friends from club volleyball going there, whether it's to be
students or to be student athletes, and knowing my parents
(11:13):
could be pretty involved, I could see them a lot.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
It was like it became kind of a no brainer
at some point.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
That's so nice. Does your family really close?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Yeah, I would say so.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
I have an older brother who's seven years older, and
I'm an older sister who's two years older.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
And my brother, I think just being a little bit older.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
You got married when I was like in high school
or maybe my freshman year of college. So having another
sister and then his kids also now are eight and four,
and so just having them kind of be alongside me
in my career through college but also professionally made me
like kind of put a new importance on volleyball and
just like I'm not just doing it for me or
(11:51):
for the paycheck or for the glory. It's kind of
to show them like what's kind of out there if
you work hard at something. So definitely very close to
my family and excited that they'll get to see me
play a.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Lot more life.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Yeah, so sure.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Now I've read that you weren't actually sure if you
wanted to play pro and keep going after college. So
what did you want to do when you graduated? What
was kind of your thought process if you didn't go pro.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
I was a hospitality and tourism management major, so that's
basically kind of like a business and managerial degree for
hotels and restaurants and launching events things like that.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
And I definitely enjoyed that side of things.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
And I think a lot of college athletes, after spending
four years totally dedicated to something, you kind of do
wonder what's like on the other side. So I definitely
like flirted with the idea of not playing and looked
heavily at that. And I got an offer to play
professionally in Puerto Rico right after college, which was pretty
common at the time to leave like right after Christmas
and the holidays your senior year and go play in
(12:54):
the spring in Puerto Rico. And I think, honestly, with
the pro side of things, I for a long time
time wasn't sure like how long I wanted to do this.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
I still struggle with that sometimes how long I want
to do this?
Speaker 4 (13:04):
But I feel like I'm very connected to my faith
and I feel like God has put small opportunities in
front of me and just like nudged me to say yes.
And so it wasn't looking at my career ten years
ago being like I want this decade long pursuit of
an Olympics, and it wasn't like that for me. But
it was a lot of little moments of God being like,
here's this opportunity and let's think about it.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
And then like nudging me in that direction. And it's
been beautiful.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
It was gonna say, are you glad that you have
chosen this path and that you're still doing Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
And every year it takes on new meaning.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
I mean now with all the opportunities coming up to
play at home and all the opportunities for college players,
just my hope is that this next year I can
help in some ways like lay a brick into something
that in the future my kids or my niece. They'll
have options to pursue playing after college in a lot
of different ways.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
There's not just one one route to do it.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
And so I'm super grateful of the career I've had,
but I think just super grateful of the ways God's
used volleyball to teach me more about like the world
and like myself and what all this can look like.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
So I hope that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
And you get to travel to all the different countries
to play. So what has kind of been your favorite
location if you even have one, Can you give me
an example of something that you absolutely loved or an
adventure that you got to go on from traveling and
playing internationally with these teams.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
We have like our pro seasons, which are about six
to eight months, and then we spend the rest of
the time with national teams. So I preface that because
if anyone's listening and they don't really know about how
the schedule works, half the year is in a foreign
country with foreign teammates and you're playing for like one club,
and the other half is typically traveling with Team USA,
(14:50):
and that's where we represent, you know, the United States,
and where we try to pursue things like an Olympic
gold medal, So two.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Very different experiences.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
I've loved overseas playing profess because learning to live in
another culture, in another country is just the most eye
opening thing, the most humbling thing you can ever do.
Like you think you know something about yourself or about
the world, you live somewhere else and you're like, oh
my gosh, like I have so much more to learn.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
So I think that part's been really cool. Obviously. The
glamorous side is people see what we do on off
days and they see us on like a.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Boat in Italy or like on a food tour in Japan,
and it's like, oh my gosh, I want to do that.
But the day to day is really hard but really rewarding,
so I'm glad I got to learn those lessons. And
then with national team, yeah, we've just we've really been
all over and getting to see different styles of volleyball
has been really fun. How to do different countries run
their offensive and defensive systems, but also how they just
(15:43):
like develop their youth differently and what they prioritize.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
So yeah, that's more of a volleyball answer, I guess,
or a life answer.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
But the travel has been amazing, but just like I've
learned so much along the way, and I feel like
I'm always still learning.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
What is a day today life like as a professional
walklleyball player.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Oh that's a good question.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I always wondered that because I'm thinking because I mean,
I played club and I was going to play in college.
I was recruited to go to Penn State, and so
that was like the dream.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
But then I got into film.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
School and I was like, that's that's you know for me.
I graduated high school in O four, so there was
no to me that I did not know about professionals.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
So I went academics over athletics.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
And then I always think back now, I'm like, huh,
could I have done that?
Speaker 4 (16:27):
But it would have likes so cool and you're doing.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Get like a volleyball capacity that's like really cool.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, and and I'm loving this that was, but you know,
there's always that thought like what would life have been like?
So I'm always curious, like what would my life have
been like had I played professionally like you are, you know,
attempted to even try to play at the US well,
which I don't think I could have, But I.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Think that's an interesting question. There's a lot of variants.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
It depends on like what country you're playing in or
if you're talking about like a professional day versus like
a day with TV USA. But generally for being I'm
typically a pretty early riser, Like I'm a morning person.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
I'll wake up, have coffee.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
I like to do some like devotional journal prayer time.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Before I leave the house.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
That to me is like have like kind of a
slow morning at home for myself, and.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Then it's very nice like meditate that morning for you.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
It's I just I love being up early and it's quiet.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
And then I think, for me, when I can make.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Volleyball feel like a part of my day versus my
whole day. Typically I tend to like hold things a
little looser and feel more relaxed to them.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Make sense, So.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
Slow morning and then head to the gym. Typically starts
with some like warm up and like rehab activities.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
So as an opposite, that means get your shoulder ready.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
I've had some foot and heel problems throughout my career,
like nothing major, but just make sure I'm getting a
good warm up for those things activating well. And then
typically we'll have ball practice maybe in the beginning part
where with more like people in your position, and we're
doing more like skills specif work like we'll have an
attack period of time and I'll have a blocking period
of time and a serving period of time, and then
(18:05):
as the day goes on.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
We'll do more like six on six volleyball or competition willeyball.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
And then after that typically we'll either go right into
strength and conditioning where we have a weak program and
a little bit of cardio, or we'll have lunch and
then do that and then yeah, in the evening, maybe
take I don't know, late afternoon and take a nap,
get a coffee. I like to take an afternoon walk
just to kind of shake out the body after the
longboarding of moving, and then cook dinner and watch some
(18:32):
film a lot of days just to kind of see
how you did that day, or watch some things about
your next opponent, and then chill time like do my nails,
watch a movie, visit with friends, play games, things like that.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
It's your like go to movie genre.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
Honestly, I feel like my husband and I have really
grown to love like Netflix documentaries.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
I like nothing that like specific.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
But just learning things.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Yeah, and some of these are just so wild you
just can't look away. And I'm like, I love that.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
I think Apple TV does a lot of great shows,
So yeah, I guess maybe less movies and more like
find a show and whether we're together or doing long distance,
like Okay, tonight, we're watching episode four or something like that.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
So you got married a month after you won the
gold medal in Tokyo.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
So what was that like?
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Going from training trying to make the twelve man roster
making it Olympics, ending up playing a.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Lot and then winning gold. Yeah, and then a month
later getting married, Like what but what was that realer?
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Closer?
Speaker 4 (19:47):
I like, it was like the most chaotic month, Like
I look back and it was seriously such a blur.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
I think my husband and.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
My support system and my planner we kind of said,
once July hits and planning is off the table, I
don't need to know anything, like if my caterer quits tomorrow,
I will find out when we get home. So we
kind of just put the wedding on the back burner
and just made it all about the Olympics.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
And then, yeah, the Olympics.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
Obviously we had a really amazing story and experience there
and then it was just probably a week of just celebrations,
media like.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Chaos, Like everywhere you went. It was like we had paparazzi.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
But I remember being like in Costco and people being like,
I just saw you, like on NBC, you just want
this gold medal and it was just so funny. But yeah,
some media stuff, phone calls, things like that, and then
a week of chill time in Indiana with my family
just kind of off the grid, and then we just
flent right into.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
All the wedding fun. So it was really cool.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
It was what was really special was seeing a lot
of my national team teammates and coaches in my small
town court fields at my wedding, just like three weeks after.
I think that was just a really special, like visual
I'll never forget. These people could be like anywhere in
the world right now and they chose to track it here. Yeah,
(21:06):
so that was like my eyes did not know what
to do with that image because it was like my
world's colliding.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
So that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Yeah, it was chaos in the best way.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Speaking of Indiana, did you know that the Indianapolis Star
they did like a best of sports by the Numbers
and for eighteen they had Peyton Manning because Peyton Manning,
but you were the honorable mention. If Peyton Manning didn't exist,
you would have been number eighteen for best in sports
of Indiana.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Did you know that?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
I did not know that, and that was my college number.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
I feel like that's kind of that's pretty funny, oppressive.
Out of the whole state of Indiana for number eighteen,
they chose you. I mean, like I said, behind Peyton Manning,
but that's.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
No, yeah, we don't invest.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
But no, it was really cool to see how like
my high school and my town and our state in
general really came behind and I felt a lot of
support throughout the Olympics.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
All Right, one more fun fact for you guys. Along
with Annie, Indiana has produced a lot of amazing female athletes,
including w NBA star and Olympic gold medalist Skyler digg
and Smith, Olympic medalist swimmer Lily King, and US women's
national soccer team member and Olympian Lauren Holiday. So Annie
is in some great company there, but she does have
(22:21):
a unique achievement under her belt as a volleyball player
from Indiana. So here's Annie to talk about that.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
I'm the first volleyball player to ever be named the
Olympic in our volleyball roster. So I didn't want to
carry that lightly. I think it could mean a lot
of cool things for our sport, in our in our country,
in our home state. So felt a lot of support
along the way, which was really cool.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Well, now you get to play here. I mean, what
does that mean for your family and your husband? Are
they excited that you're not going away for months? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Now?
Speaker 4 (22:51):
Yeah. So my plan actually was honestly to retire after Paris.
You know, this League one opportunity came around, and I
versus no, I think I should retire.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
I think I should retire it.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
And the more I learned, and the more I saw
people signing, and it's starting to come to fruition, It's like,
I think I've never really regret not doing it. So
I remember saying yes to League one and calling my
parents and they were in the car together and they
were just so funny, just very happy.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
And then an hour later, my dad's like.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Okay, map Quest says it's three hours and thirty seven minutes.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
To Madison, Wisconsin.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
So my parents, along with all of our parents, are
just gonna be total groupies, like in the best way,
which is gonna be really fun.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
So what are you hoping that your legacy will be
when it's all said and done, when you finally decide
that you know the opportunity to finally retire presents itself
to you, what do you kind of hope that your
legacy is.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
I want to be remembered as like a player and
teammate who matured.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Along the way, who was really learned how to be
good in a lot of different roles.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
And I think that that's something that I've had to learn,
not always the easy way.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I just think, you know.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
A lot of your college professional career, you're kind of
like the big dog, and then you get to the
national team a gym and you're just so not a
big fish in a small pond, if that makes sense.
So I think just learning, how can I be good
as a starter? How can I be good as a
non starter? How can I be good as someone who's
coming off the bench for three points, coming off the
(24:19):
bench to finish the game, And not just physically or statistically,
but like mentally emotionally, Like how do my teammates know
no matter what, they're gonna know what they're gonna get.
I think that is something that I've really worked hard
on getting better at, and I hope that that's something
I can model well and people can see that, but
also that I can help people with in the future.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
And what advice do you have for kids who are
starting up in sports volleyball?
Speaker 2 (24:44):
What kind of advice do you have for them?
Speaker 4 (24:46):
Honestly, like, and it doesn't even have to be about sports.
You just have to find something that you really love
to do every day. And I think when you're young,
it can be like my parents sign me up for it,
or my friends like to do it, but I just
don't know if that's really going to get you very far.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
And if you just enjoy it, like that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
But I think if you really want to see gains
and improvements and success in something, or you really just
want to be like satisfied and who you are and
what you're contributing, I think you just got to find
something that you really enjoy doing and not do it
just for other people.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Lastly, sports, women's sports in general has transformed and involved
so much since you've played, especially since I've played. Where
do you see this sport in just women's sports in
general in five ten years.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
If it's where we want it to be, it should
be like pretty unimaginable, Like I don't think we should
be able to know what that looks like. I think
the cool thing about volleyball, we've seen it grow at
this like exponential level and we're learning quickly that there's
interest here and how do we capitalize on that, not
just for a monetary value, but how do we equip
the next generation so they can match that level when
(25:51):
they get there.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
And I don't know.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
What it'll look like, but I'm really excited to hopefully
help lay a brick. And I think it takes a
lot of talented people and a lot of experienced players
just saying yes to opportunities and seeing how far we
can take these things.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Well, Annie, thank you so much, cheering. I appreciate you
joining me pancakes and chatting about Paulay.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Serving Pancakes is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership
with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. Production by League One Volleyball I'm your host
Tiffany Oshinsky. Anya oliverrez Is our senior producer. Our executive
producers are Carrie Stett, Tamaradike and Lindsay Hoffman. Our marketing
(26:41):
lead is Jawara Parker. Sound mixing by Max Lorenzen. Our
theme music is Pancakes by Eric W. Mast Junior special
thanks to Annie Drews. We'll be back next week with
Justine Wangarantis, who earned Best Libero honors at the Tokyo
Olympics when Team USA won their first and who will
be back defending her title in Paris. Stay tuned for
(27:04):
what we serve up next. H
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