The Deep Corner

New York Pride outside hitter and Four to Four podcast host Brandon Greenway joins the show this week! He talks about his unique start to his volleyball career growing up in Maryland to his college recruitment to Charleston in the EIVA, a very strangely timed position switch, and making his way to Denmark this past year for his first professional season. He also reacts to his and his team's experiences at the VLA Cup a few weeks ago, which was a stellar weekend full of volleyball, before chatting with Rob about their shared pursuit, volleyball podcasting. Brandon breaks some exclusive news about some of the Four to Four crew's summer plans, and tells some of the best stories shared on his show so far. Make sure to follow Brandon @brandon_greenway13, Four to Four @four.to.four, and catch Around the VLA live on the VLA YouTube channel Monday evenings!

Long show today, but packed with incredible stuff! Olympic gold medalist Ryan Millar joins the show to get interviewed for a change, as for the last year or so he's hosted the CrossNet Volleyball Podcast with several awesome guests. He talks about his role in turning the BYU men's program into what it is today, his journey on the national team towards an eventual gold medal, and gives a hot take on which international volleyball tournament is the hardest to win... Incredible episode. Check out Ryan on the CrossNet Volleyball Podcast if you're not already following it! https://crossnetpodcast.podbean.com/

The fearless leader of the new VLA Tier 2 squad Boston Bounce, Jeff Vautrin, joins the show this week before his team's VLA debut next weekend in Buffalo! Jeff took over as the head coach of the men's program at Lasell University a few short years after finishing his playing career there, and has added "head women's coach" and "VLA team captain" to his resume as well! Jeff gets into his Hawaiian volleyball influence, transitioning from a player to a coach, and a preview of what to expect from Boston Bounce next weekend. Awesome interview.

A very special guest this week - 2x AVCA All-American, AVCA National Player of the Year, and 2x USA Olympic setter Don Suxho! A phenomenal player with an even more incredible story, growing up in communist Albania (just north of Greece) and finding his way eventually to USC for a stellar college career before gaining American citizenship and joining the US Men's National Team. He tells incredible stories of backing up Lloy Ball, coming off the bench to key the biggest comeback in Olympic history, suffering a brutal injury in Italy that prevented him from being on the 2008 gold medal team, and his role as the starter in London in 2012. Don is now heavily involved with two of the VLA's corporate partners, Smack Sportswear and CrossNet, and we're so excited to have him on the show and supporting the VLA!

Quick announcement - The Deep Corner is going LIVE! Tonight (Monday Feb 8, 2021) at 11:00 PM EST/8:00 PM PST Rob will be going live from Ascension Volleyball practice in Phoenix, AZ leading up to this weekend's big VLA regular season event. Ascension captain and frequent podcast guest Vince Zanzucchi will hop on to talk about this weekend's event, introduce VLA Tier 2 squads Rukkus and Irvine Xtreme, and take your questions in the YouTube Live chat. We'll post the audio from the live conversation as a full podcast tomorrow. Come hang out with us! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyfo_6gkwXKdRWO5_eD4Q6w

VLA co-founder, Olympic gold medalist, and general volleyball LEGEND Lloy Ball rejoins the show after being the first ever guest on The Deep Corner -- and boy, has the world changed since then! Lloy and the VLA board have dealt with a global pandemic, pulled off a great event last summer, and are now ready to play in 2021 starting THIS WEEKEND with Lloy's Team Pineapple taking on Team LVC in a three-match series in Fort Wayne. Lloy goes through the rapid fire question gauntlet which didn't exist last time he was on the show, and goes into detail about what to expect this weekend and beyond this season. Check out the VLA YouTube channel for live volleyball all weekend!

A new addition to the New York Legion roster for next weekend's VLA Kickoff Classic, outside hitter Cody Kessel (@codykessel) joins the show in anticipation of returning to volleyball in a week. He talks about growing up in Colorado where there's barely any boys' volleyball, having USAV legend John Kessel as a father, taking a gap year between high school and starting at Princeton, switching from opposite to outside hitter as a pro, and playing abroad with a record setting number of Americans on a team. We also get into his long standing connections with Team LVC and what a great opportunity being able to play next weekend is. Great chat with a big name in the USA Volleyball world.

VOLLEYBALL IS BACK! That's right, real, live, professional sports are back on the schedule! VLA Director of Player Relations Tim Falknor rejoins the show to talk a few quick details about the event now on the calendar: July 3-5 at the Ball Sports Academy in Angola, IN. Stay tuned to the VLA social media platforms for many more details!

Chicago Icemen outside hitter Mark Jones (@mjoneo11) joins the show to break down his volleyball career in detail, from hilariously humble beginnings to a stellar college career at George Mason where he shared EIVA co-player of the year honors with some guy named Aaron Russell. He breaks down the differences between outside hitter and opposite in detail, plus the mindset shifts from beach to indoor at a very high level. We also get into several aspects of how awesome the volleyball community is, from Chicago to nationwide and how all the VLA players are coming together to grow the game. Be sure to check out the episode on the VLA YouTube channel to catch a cameo appearance by Mark's dog, Oakley!

Your familiar host and VLA play by play guy Rob St. Claire (@rstclaire1) goes solo for this show to talk about volleyball broadcasting. Just about everyone in the volleyball community knows what it's like to be frustrated by bad uneducated commentators while watching a match...Rob gets into why it's such a common problem, what it takes to be a better volleyball broadcaster, who are the best in the world, and more. He also breaks down an old USA men's national team match highlight video, looking at the play and Paul Sunderland's commentary. Highly recommend checking out the video version on the VLA YouTube channel, at least for the match analysis portion. Hope you enjoy the slightly different format! Normal episode with a guest coming Friday.

Ukrainian volleyball rock star Andrey Diachkov (@volleyball.advice) joins the show to talk in depth about his stellar international volleyball career that spans 15 years and several countries. He tells a few incredible stories about 5 set wins, crazy home-and-home CEV matches, playing so well against teams that they have no choice but to sign him to contracts, and what it was like to be the veteran after all his years. After surviving the gauntlet of quick fire questions unscathed, Andrey talks about his move to Houston and transition to coaching and playing in the VLA, including how he first got connected with his squad, the Chicago Icemen. If you don't already know the name Andrey Diachkov, look him up and follow him on instagram! Also quick programming note that the show's release days are changing to Tuesday and Friday, not Monday and Friday anymore!

New York Legion middle blocker Mike Marshman (@mikemarshman) joins the show to talk about his crazy last second recruitment to Saint Francis, the amazing progression of his team from his freshman to senior year in college, the differences between playing in France and Finland, and a nice crash course in how to read block in the middle. Mike also gets thrown into the fire with a new quick hitting interview segment, you'll want to see how he hangs in there! Also don't miss his insane story about the volleyball camp where he first got connected with LVC. Great episode.