Paul Duerden - Commentator Tokyo 2020

This is episode 145 of the Empowered Team Podcast. Continuing the Olympic theme on the Empowered Team Podcast today, Kari welcomes me, Paul Durden, commentator at the Tokyo Olympic 2020 Games for volleyball. Welcome to the Empowered Team Podcast where we explore how to optimize your performance in career, sport and life. And now your host, Vitality Peak Performance coach, Kari Schneider.

Hello. Hello. We are back with the Empowered Team Podcast and I am so pumped to have the most amazing, the most wonderful, the most incredible commentator for CBC for volleyball for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. It's my husband, former wingman on the show, one and only Paul Dan. Hi, hun.

Well, hello. Thank you for the glorious introduction.

Well, I don't get to. You're, you're usually the introduction guy and I've tried to learn from you as to, you know, how to bring somebody in powerfully. And you deserve a powerful introduction. And that's part of what you're going to be doing for the next three weeks. You're about to leave. I'm about to bring you to the airport, but not to the airport heading to Tokyo, which is bittersweet, I guess. What's that like for you?

So you more bitter than sweet?

More bitter. Okay, so for the listeners Paul is commentating for, for Tokyo 2020, except not from Tokyo. So tell people what that's like, what's going on there.

This is my, my history coming into play that as an athlete tried to go to the Olympics four times and it didn't happen. So I thought when I got the job to commentate with CBC for Rio in 2016, I'm going to the Olympics. But no, unfortunately they were calling volleyball and a number of other sports from Toronto in the studios. And it's an awesome atmosphere. There's a ton of amazing people there putting on this insane production over the course of 16 days. And so it was fantastic, but thought, okay, maybe with Tokyo 2020, have the chance and obviously with the Games being delayed and everything that's going on with the pandemic, CBC even has trimmed down anyone who's traveling to Tokyo down to those covering swimming and track and field. So every other sport now is going to be out of the studios in Toronto. And again, it's going to be an awesome atmosphere. But there is that disappointment of actually being at the Games, but not so bad this year, knowing that, you know, it's not going to be in normal games with no fans in the stands and things like that. Athletes, as you've told me, are, you know, leaving within 24 hours. Of completing events and things. So if there was a Games to not be on site for, it might be this one.

On, on a personal level, I remember you and I saying in 2016 that we'd both like that we'd go together to the next Olympics and we'd experience it together. And whether you were commentating or not, because we both wanted to be there and just. I don't know about other people, but for me, I grew up watching the Olympics in the summer on my grandparents floor just staring in awe at all these athletes. So there's the wanting to be there and that's what we thought would happen for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Just experience it. Yeah. And then on the flip side, there's so many people that we know, whether you've played with people or gotten to know them through your times on an international stage at Pan Am Games. So there ends up being this connection to so many different sports or humans that are actually in, in the Olympics competing and on this world stage. So there's that personal aspect, but then the professional one, it's, you know, at least, at least it's still happening instead of. Yeah. Instead of this major unknown and it's still being called the 2020 Olympics even though it's a year delayed. And what else. So besides what else is different for you because you've commentated how many Olympics now? This is number second. Yeah. Oh, right, yeah. Okay. So 2016, I'm thinking of all the world leagues or the nations leagues as well because it just seems like so much commentating, but really it's only two. This is second Olympics.

Right.

So what are all the different protocols that have to happen? Whether it's because of COVID or how is it looking different for you from not only a time zone standpoint because different location, but also Covid. And what's different about this Olympics for you commentating than the last Olympics?

Really I think it's going to be most different around just the protocols and things in the building. In the past, prior to Rio and as that games was happening, just the way you could work in the building was really easy. There was, you know, an area to do research, there was an area to eat. You could be there all day long. You could interact with other commentators and get the stories of what's going on in their sports and kind of share that on air. And everything is going to be so segmented just for safety this year that there's certain elevators we can use to get to the floor that I'm allowed to go to with my pass. So I can only go to the one floor. You have to eat alone. You're basically kind of out of there when you're done commentating. So it's. There's a lot of separation for everyone's health and safety and that's going to just create challenges around communication and staying on top of things that can fluidly happen in the previous environment where you just sit down to eat with, you know, someone's calling soccer and someone who's calling swimming, whatever it is, and just get all those little stories and also feed off the energy of other people and what's going on. So, yeah, that'll be the biggest difference. And then just also calling the games with a new partner. So I'll be with Doug Dirks. So that's going to be awesome. I haven't worked with them before, so there's gonna be just the challenges for the two of us of getting our rhythm down, getting up to speed with each other, and the way we kind of pass things back and forth on the air and.

But you get to connect ahead of time.

Yeah.

It's not like first meeting is first, first match that you're commentating together. Okay.

No, but it is a, you know.

It'S kind of a dry practice, but.

Yeah, we're gonna be dropped right into it and for 16 days straight. So I'm sure we'll hit our stride really fast. But it's just an extra element as well to add to the. Make it different. Yeah.

Yeah. Now that I remember visiting for the 2016 and seeing the studio and just the energy, the vibe, the. The screens everywhere, seeing so many different sports on so many different screens and just, you know, producers being on, on point with watching what needs to happen here and there and cueing people to dive into something else. And it was just so vibrant and energetic. And you, even though, and this is what made it so exciting for me to see that even though you weren't in, in, well, in this case in Tokyo, but even though you're not at the event, you're actually feeling the feeling. You're. You're experiencing the energy. You're. In fact, you're getting so much of it because you're seeing so many different sports and so many different things happening not only from Canada's events, but other, other countries events. Will you have that same access to that same kind of room and vibe, or will you kind of be isolated to volleyball and volleyball alone? What do you, what do you think will happen?

I'm not exactly sure. I know that editing suites and Things are kind of closed off areas and there was kind of a command center that you're, that you saw that you're remembering where there's literally a wall, not a normal wall. This is.

And then you had your studio box. I remember that. Yeah.

But this, this isn't like a wall you picture in your house. This is a wall that's, I don't know, 15ft high.

Yeah.

30Ft wide. But where they've got every single feed that's coming in from the Olympic Broadcasting System and then, you know, they're quarterbacking it from there. Just trying to make the best show possible continually. We're going to be having sports on air on TSN, CBC and Sportsnet for 23 hours a day.

That's amazing.

Plus all the streaming, plus all the social channels are using cbc, GEM and all these different outlets. So they're literally producing multiple shows all at the same time and trying to find the biggest stories that are happening. And that's gonna be interesting to see how that works with people somewhat segregated in the building. But yeah, that's what makes it really cool and energetic is that we'll be calling a game and something else will be going on and we'll hand it off to the track where something crazy has just happened and they, you know, want to cover that and then they'll go back. But then also there'll be some big match that we're in and it's an upset that's about to happen and they'll throw the main show to us to catch the end of that. And so this really fluid, dynamic environment where you don't know what's coming, but that makes it really exciting and awesome.

Well, it's, it reminds me of just all that adaptation and excitement that comes from an actual match that comes from being in such a competitive environment and, and you get so lit up by, by that kind of excitement too. Is that what you're looking forward to?

Yeah, it's like being part of the show. It's, you're, you're right in it and you have to deliver. It's live.

You don't get a redo, no pressure.

So, you know, you gotta know what you're talking about and be ready to go and also just be ready to make it land quickly. Because as you just described, sometimes things move around when big things are happening and you have to bring, you know, all the viewers who've just come to you from the Rowing center, they're coming to volleyball and you got to give them context quickly, quickly have them Understand why this is important, why this is a big deal, and also keep calling the game because, you know, the volleyball people are watching it, say on a stream or watching the whole thing, and they want to know the volleyball story, right? So you're bouncing around in terms of level of knowledge of viewer and trying to keep a story about the match going and also continually provide context. So it's just, it's an awesome challenge.

And your level of awareness that you just described there is amazing because we've got Canadians who are not typically conditioned to watch a lot of volleyball, unlike perhaps Europe. But then you've got your die hard volleyball people within every country. So, so you're speaking to different levels and also trying to educate about the sport and educate about the international sport because even if a lot of people love volleyball and they're familiar with their play or their club sport, it may be a completely different thing that they're seeing on an international level because it tends to be a different game. So you're trying to like navigate all these different levels and be aware of what the viewer is seeing while realizing that there's multiple types of viewers at the same time.

And you have to assume the bulk of them. You know, the only time they see volleyball is every four years. They throw the Olympics on, you know, they like to watch, but they don't follow volleyball outside of that. So it's making sure they get a lot out of the show while still taking care of the die hards and the other people who are into the sport that is most important.

So speaking of volleyball itself, you've been away from the sport playing for over a decade, which seems insane because the time has just flown, but you've been away from playing in the sport, but you stay in touch, you know, you know a lot of the people involved fairly well if you think of the head coach, Glenn Hogue, and then there's a number of the players that you're still connected with. But because of time and because of just change that happens in sport so fast, there's a lot of people you're, you don't know what has it been like to try to get, to try and get up to speed with the individuals who the players are like. That is a, you know, you're doing an extra thesis here just in trying to study the players. And for the listeners here, I want to get clear. You are commentating for the Canadian men's team to cover Canada for the Olympics. The women's national team for Canada has not qualified, but you have to cover Women's matches, men's matches, and a bunch of countries that you may not know anyone on those teams. So, you know, what's this prep like, what's this process like? It sounds daunting to say the. Say the least.

Yeah, it's a lot because it's easy to follow. You know, the Champions League in Europe. I follow the men passively, you know, all throughout the year, just keeping tabs on who's winning, how those teams are doing, and you see the big names. But like you said, The Olympics is 12 men's teams, 12 women's teams, 12 players per team, coaches, assistants, do the math. Yeah. Needing to know, you know, something about all these players and again, to be able to tell the story and make it interesting to share things about them that the audience can connect with, to make it a great show and a broadcast. And so there is a ton of research to do and just watching video, working on pronunciations, just trying to find how to get names correct. Even if you haven't seen it before or heard it or maybe even hearing it through a commentator, they're saying it in a different way than maybe it's actually said. Yeah, that's the biggest challenge of the job for sure, is trying to find the time to do all the research and keep notes and things. But the great thing is, once you get into the match, I'm lucky enough in my role as the analyst to really, I have to be just kind of breaking down how and why a play happened.

Yeah.

And my play by play partner is, you know, calling the ins and outs of the rally and giving some background on the players that way too, to help out. And then I can spend part of my time on air at least kind of with more technical stuff, which doesn't change. You know, I know that that was my life, so I can just reference things. So that's where it is a big plus. But yeah, you do have to do the homework. You got to know the players and know the trends and the stories of the teams and things like that.

And it's, it's fun for the listener to get those little dashes of both. The dash of the technical side, the dash of the story, the dash of the personal part of the player. And then that's interesting for the viewer to really get the bigger picture and really be bought into the story of what's going on.

Yeah, like that's the real job is all the research.

Yeah.

When you get to it's, you know, calling it as like the game, you know, the research is all the practice and the weight training of it. And then when you're on air, that's just the game and you're just kind of kicking out what you know and what you've learned. And that's the easy part. The hard part is just digging up all this info and yeah, staying current.

With everyone and then also realizing that you're living. You're living, repeating certain things and living likely telling the same story over again in a lot of instances. But you have to assuming that a viewer hasn't seen anything yet in a way, or a viewer hasn't remembered or caught that part before. And you're not being repetitive, it's that you have to keep it.

Yeah, you need to touch on something a couple times because again, somebody turning it on could be the first time they're seeing it, but somebody who's been following the whole thing may have heard it a few times, but you're telling things in a slightly different way or just making sure that it's a big enough item, I guess. I don't. Can't think of an example at the top of my head of what it would be. But yeah, you know, even if a player is a new dad, for example, there's a bunch of Canadian and three guys on the team who are new fathers within the last year and a half or so. And so that's a big change for them. So that's something you can touch on in a number of different ways throughout the match of just referencing that, knowing that that's going on their lives and helps people connect to them, that these guys just aren't athletes. They're traveling the world, they're playing professionally overseas, they're trying to get their family over there and manage all those things. That's things people can relate to. And so you can draw those out again and again, but in different ways to make sure that people really learn about these players in their lives as opposed to seeing them as pure athletes. And that's it.

Yeah, even. Even with the. The lawsuit for women Olympic athletes to be able to go to the Olympics either with their children or. There's been so much around those personal items. And that's a big deal for the people watching because they don't typically know those things. They have no idea about what's going on. So, yeah, that's really neat. And those personal things for the players can make or break their performance. And you know that you've been there, you've been there as a dad, you've been there playing professionally as, as with all Those extra pressures of traveling and playing national team. So we, we know you're so excited for the dynamic, exciting, challenging portion of the job. What, who. And, you know, what are you most excited for around the game? And are you really looking forward to Canada playing in a certain match? Are you, like, what are you most excited to kind of experience as a spectator or, you know, what's coming up?

Well, we're supposed to be unbiased, right?

Yeah.

And it's clear even when we're calling Canadian Games, we're not referring to them as we or, you know, it's, you know, impartial somewhat. And so we do, obviously, know a lot more about the Canadians than other teams. They're, you know, our team. But on air, we're calling the match as it is and separate from that. Personally, I'm really excited for the men's team and what can potentially go down in Tokyo because they've got an incredible draw. They're in the same pool as the host, Japan, and magically, that pool is, in my eyes, much lighter than pool B. So they have a tremendous opportunity to position well coming out of the round robin, which tees up for, hopefully, a good crossover in the quarterfinal, and then, you know, anything can happen at that point. So they made it to the quarterfinals last time around and met up with Russia, but powerhouse, they came out of an incredibly challenging pool and then had a tough crossover. So this time around, if they take care of business, they're going to be in a great spot for the crossover.

And that's exciting. Yeah, that's exciting. And are there any other sports that you're looking forward to? Like, do you have just from being a kid or throughout your life, have there been favorites or have there been sports that have become favorites that you love to follow or watch during the Olympics?

Well, if I have time. That's the whole question. Yeah, I love watching it all because I just understand somewhat what all the athletes have been through in terms of the commitment and training it takes to get there. So just seeing the drama unfold in any of the events is always entertaining. But Olympics especially, I like to watch kind of some things that I wouldn't normally see and something that they showed a lot of when I lived in France or in Europe, was and highlighted an Olympic coverage, which we wouldn't normally see in North America, is fencing. Because it's really, really crazy to see what's going on in the slow mo replays of fencing and the drama there. And fencers are so passionate, and it's. It can Be pretty wild. I love watching the weightlifting.

Yeah.

Like to go to the Olympics, have six lifts and that's your.

Yeah, that's your event.

You're lifting six times. Like you're literally picking something off the floor six times. It's again there the strategy of selecting the weights that they're gonna lift and just. That's always mind blowing. And I guess the other part of it is that having trained. So for example, running with you all the time, I know how fast I run and so I love to just have my mind blown and watch how fast somebody will watch run a 10K.

Yeah.

You know, the 10,000 meters or the 5,000 meters. Knowing that I don't think I can. It's literally. I don't think I could even sprint at the pace they're running the entire race at. And just feeling so humbled by that of just. Oh my God. Like it's. It's really hard for an average person watching to understand. I was talking, talking with Rob Snook about this when we're calling Volleyball Nations League last month, that they need to in some way have short videos or something to show an average person running or even. I'm air quoting here, but a good runner.

Yeah.

That you know, running next to an Olympic runner and just have them look like they're standing still. Like.

Yeah.

Just. You can't. Unless you've really trained in any of these remotely or if you've picked up a weight or if you've sprinted or if you tried to jump until you've done that and really know yourself and then see just how. Not next level. But.

Yeah.

How seven levels above this is.

It's. Yeah.

So cool.

It's the. I've always said that the national level athletes are typically freaks of nature in some form or another. There's some sort of physical anomaly that helps them in that specific thing. And I know that for yourself, people. I. I can't count the number of people who have felt that way about your play. Seeing you play in volleyball, what you've just described with the runners and with the weightlifters. That's how people feel and have felt about your. About your play because of your.

I don't see it because it feels normal and I can do it. But then when I try to do what athletes do another sport. I know I feel like a novice.

Yes. Yes. Well, I think we all need to feel like a novice in some way or another to then we understand what's possible. If we can feel like a novice, then we know there's so many other levels. It's an amazing thing. Right. We can see what's there. If we never feel like a novice, then we never really understand what is ahead of us or what's possible. So you mentioned Nations League. You got to commentate just a few weeks ago that did that kind of prime the pump is. Are you. Are you feeling ready? Like was that helpful in any way or did that give you insight?

Yeah, absolutely. Because was just a nice little warm up for what's coming. Because it was three weekends, only six matches. But getting into the prep for those was great. And adding to prep I'm trying to do for Tokyo already and having to learn some names, see some players I haven't seen before.

Heard a lot of OVs. Yep.

Yep. And also just getting back in the booth and calling games and I was actually with different partners for different matches. So that was kind of good practice of just reading my co host and getting just into rhythm again because it's been a couple years. So.

Yeah. Being able to feed off of each other and you do the, you know, throw to one person, back to the other and keep it fluid. I guess too.

Yeah.

Is this. Is this something you ever saw yourself doing? If you think back 10 years ago, 15 years ago, did you ever see yourself commentating?

No, it wasn't even an idea.

Yeah.

It was just my name was given to thrown in the mix I guess after I retired and so I kind of had a request from CBC to audition and just try out and leapt at the chance. But had never thought of it as a possibility or even. Yeah, it just didn't even cross my mind.

And yet it intrigued you enough to do it and excited you enough to keep doing it. But I would imagine that maybe you and other listeners wouldn't have any idea the kind of prep and the kind of work and the kind of intensity that it really takes. So is there any way you can really.

Well, and that that's become more and more the story. When I first started doing it, I knew everything. I knew every guy playing, I knew where they were. I knew the results of all the. Because I was in it every day. Really connecting years straight.

Yes.

Right. And so it's become harder and harder.

Being away from the sport.

Being away from the sport day in and day out to make time to research, make time to watch some games, you know and have a day job, you know, I was gonna life so. And the commentary isn't consistent. It's when World League is on in the summer, you know, you got six or seven weeks or that switch to Nations League and they went to centralized commentating then. So that's why I didn't do it for a couple years. But the longer it goes, the more I appreciate the work it takes. But even when I was initially thrown into it with Mark Lee, for example, who you've had on the show.

I.

Was able to learn from him quickly some key things. And just seeing how Rob Snook works and all the other people I've had a chance to call games with and Charles Parkinson and just, you know, seeing their prep organization, ways of organizing your information so it's accessible during a match is also key so that you've got things there you don't have to be hunting through. Oh, there's something about him that, you.

Know, you don't want to say the wrong thing.

Yeah. So just I was lucky to work with great people all the way through and learn some things that make the match management, as you're calling it, so much easier. And then just purely on the research side, that's just become a bigger and bigger job.

On that note, to start wrapping up here, you're, you mentioned a couple names of people that you've commentated with and this is, this is something that's on the side for you. It's not a full time thing. This is something that comes up either once every few years or sometimes annually for Nations League or when it was World League. But you look at the pros who do this a lot. Is there anyone that you really look up to and you model after or you've see as a mentor or have learned so much from?

Honestly, I don't do it enough to have one. I've learned from all of them. Cigna Butler, who I got to call a bunch of games with VNL with, she was awesome. And I was asking her a bunch of questions because she gets tossed in all these different sports and I just, you know, like, how do you do this? She's doing a couple different things at Olympics, including water polo. And she's stressed out because you've got people with, you know, they've got the helmet but the caps on and the pads to protect your ears and things. And there's just a number and they're splashing around in the water and how do you do that? You know, and compare and you know, it's, it's watching things that she does to research or you know, people leveraging contacts and basically just finding a way to get it done and understand and, and watch and everyone who I've Worked with, truly loves sport. They're passionate and I think that's what drives them and makes them exceptional. That's why they have these jobs. You know, they just, they know what's going on in a whole bunch of sports, like chatter away from the volleyball court is about what's going on in tennis or whatever. It's just continuous. So they're passionate sports fans, but they're also highly professional in just terms of getting the work done. Really great at communicating. Everybody's really humble and willing to admit what they don't know and ask questions. Right. And not be some know it all in the air. When you're thrown into a sport you haven't called, it's not going to fly.

Right.

So it's, it's kind of just a mix of. So. So yeah, to answer your question, there isn't. I mean, obviously I work with Mark Lee right out of the gate, incredible legend. So set the bar very high. But everyone that I've worked with I've learned so much from and they all have incredible stories too, of just when stuff goes wrong on air. There's some hilarious stories.

That's the next interview of you is going to be what went wrong?

The wheels come off. Well, there's a time in Rio where Charles Mike went dead for about seven or eight minutes.

And I'm on talking to yourself.

We're in this booth and I'm finding things in our booth to throw. We talked about that giant command center with all the TV screens to get somebody's attention, throw stuff into that area so that somebody would look at our booth because we couldn't get. I couldn't talk back to the booth because I had to do all the talking.

You didn't have time to cue somebody?

No, but I couldn't let them know. And then when I had a chance to let the producers know, nobody answered on the, on the talk back and Charles Mike is dead.

And couldn't he just get up and go and just leave the booth?

Well, he was trying to work with someone on his line to get it going.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah.

Help. Help. Mayday.

Mayday.

We've been abandoned here. Help us.

Throwing water bottles.

See, I want the behind the scenes footage of that because that'd be hilarious. That's awesome. So, okay, to finish this up, you, you're going to be commentating late nights. We got a very big time zone difference. And so you're commentating in the evening probably till midnight. You're commentating earlier in the morning, maybe around 6am Eastern time.

But yeah, then there could be ones in the middle. In the middle, like when quarterfinals are happening or.

So it's. As a professional, you got to manage your sleep, your food, the other demands of your, your regular job. What is there one thing that you know that's gonna be there, that's, that's imperative for you for keeping your, keeping your performance the way you know you want it to be throughout this, this is, you know, our listeners are people who are achievers. They want to perform their best and they're looking for ways to do that, not just in their physical performance, but in their work lives, in their family lives. What do you think is going to be that thing? Because you're balancing a lot. We're apart, you're long distance, you've got weird times going on, extra demand. You could be commentating for hours on end. Really intense mentally and physically too, from just the loss of sleep. What do you think is going to be, you know, one or two things that are going to keep you performing optimally when it's going to be burning the candle at both ends?

Yeah, there's a lot to make this work, but I think number one is trying to plan and unfortunately that can go out the window because as we talked about earlier, it is a big show and if they decide that they want to show a women's match all of a sudden that wasn't scheduled, that we have in our lineup, they'll do that. And you know, it can be, hey, we need you at two in the morning, you're calling this game and we can find out five hours before. So. But outside of that, I'm really trying to just work out a rough plan of the 15 or 16 matches that we have scheduled over the first, I think eight days, nine days. Yeah. Just figure out when can I eat, when can I sleep? And having just a rough game plan. So I'm not just reacting in the moment and getting off two matches in a row at midnight. Starving.

Yeah.

Not ready to eat.

You've got your food planned.

You've got the food and maybe having to be up five hours later to be back to call the 6:30 game.

Yeah.

And so just. That's where you're gonna be in trouble. Yeah, you know, it's, it's like any kind of competition. You want to plan your meals, your rest, your training, if you can. There's a lot of variables with this one that are outside of my control. So it's having stuff prepared, you know, just snacks, good things to eat, being ready to nap, during the day and then just not being caught unprepared.

Yeah, yeah.

As best I can. And things will go sideways. It's gonna. Something will come up that'll just be weird. But.

Well, I can say I'm really grateful that you were able to get a haircut and you got your deal, your pre. Pre commentating haircut and thank you, J. Mac. All right. Anything else you want to add before if there's times that people should tune in? If there are, you know, is there even an opening ceremonies? Are they doing that for Covid? There's no closing ceremonies, I don't think.

I don't know what they're doing, actually.

Everything is different.

Yeah. But I would say, you know, if you want to watch it live, anytime you want to see the Canadian men playing, they're going to be showing it live on one of the big three. Or you can stream it so people can pick and choose.

So nice.

I'm hoping, you know, the die hard fans are going to be up late or up early to watch Canada and see it in the moment, but you can. There's kind of roundup shows of the highlights of the event. The day is kind of broken out in quarters, but there's the overnight live stuff and into the morning is prime time in Tokyo. So there's going to be big things happening early in the day, but you can catch summaries of it or package version of it almost any time. And then streaming also live. Yeah. Yep.

So we're going to use up all the data while you're gone because I got to find a way. I got to find a way to see all the things on the Olympics. So awesome. Anything else you want to add before heading into your next adventure with this Olympics?

I don't know. Just everyone out there really appreciate what you're seeing. We kind of talked about it on this, in this conversation that the people you're seeing on the screen, even if they're on there for five minutes, have put a lifetime of work into what they're doing. And, and remember that as you're seeing it, that it's. It's really incredible. It's not what's going on isn't normal. And, and you should try some of these things to really appreciate that.

Yeah.

Like I said, you know, watching the running, the slowest runner out there on the track that you're seeing, who's 30 seconds behind or 40 seconds behind, you know, we could never even come close to keeping up with it. It's just such next level that just really yeah. Soak it up and enjoy it.

And I would think that most of those Olympics, most of those Olympians, I've heard this so many times that they grew up watching the Olympics. So even though we're in an age of a lot of streaming and online, like, find a way for your kids to see some different sports than the two that they've been exposed to. Yeah, let them watch like 10 different sports that they've never seen before. Or, you know, try for yourself. If you've never really watched another sport, tune in and watch some other sports because it's so cool just to see what else people are capable of at the top level of that sport is so neat.

Exactly.

Table tennis. Good grief.

Yep.

Anyway, to wrap up, I'd like to acknowledge you. I have been so lucky to see you go from, you know, not wanting to do any public speaking to becoming a world class commentator. And I know that you may not receive that so easily, but not everybody in the world gets to commentate for CBC Sports. So that is a huge accomplishment. And I see the work you put in. I've seen all of the intensity and the effort and it's all coming to this peak right now. And I acknowledge you for all that you put in. You put in so, so much. So enjoy it. You deserve all this. And yeah, you're giving something back to a sport that's given you so much too.

Thank you so much.

Yes. So tune in, everybody. Watch not only the volleyball, but all the Olympics. And we're pumped for it. And hopefully it is inspires you to keep growing, keep striving, keep doing what stretches you into the best version of you that you need. So have a wonderful rest of your day and go for it. If you enjoy listening to the Empowered Team podcast, you'll love being on the team. The Empowered Team runs year round. It is our great coaching and accountability program where we take mindset and physical performance concepts and break them down to usable action steps that optimize results. To join, email us@info powerconditioning.com with subject line team. That's info powerconditioning.com we can't wait for you to be on the team.