[00:00:14] Speaker A: Hello. Welcome to the Roundhouse Podcast with Paul Sullentrop of Wichita State University Strategic communications. As always, thanks very much for listening. We appreciate your time. Our guest today is Jody Larson, former Shocker volleyball player. Jody played 2015 and 2016 at Wichita State after transferring from the University of Oklahoma. In 2016, she earned Honorable mention All American honors as an opposite hitter. She also received all region and all MVC honors. She was the MVC tournament MVP in both 2015 and 2016.
Jody has played professionally since 2017. She's been in France, Finland, and most recently in Switzerland. She played for Smash. And that's exactly how you pronounce it. We'll have Jody go through that. And 20, 24, 25. She will return to that club in Switzerland in 2025, 26. Okay, tell us about Smash, where you live and the. The pronunciation of an aptly named town.
[00:01:09] Speaker B: Yeah, so I live in Ash and they just added the SM before it to make it Smash for our volleyball club, which is pretty fitting for volleyball.
But yeah, I am near Basel, Switzerland. It's kind of on the border of Germany and France, so I can kind of hop into whatever country I want about 10 minutes. And yeah, it's a small town, but I'm close to a big city, so that makes it very nice.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: Okay, Smash, that is perfect. Ash is spelled A, E, S A, E, S, C, H, Ash. Okay, so Jody, you played for your mother, who is a very well known high school coach. He played for Terri Larson at Mays South. Terry won state titles as volleyball coach at Mays in 98, 99. She also has coached softball. She's currently the volleyball coach at Bishop Carroll. Shocker fans will also probably recognize Greg, your father. He works on the stat crew at Shocker Games. So you grew up in a athletic family. How did that shape your career? How did that get you to where you are?
[00:02:04] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. I also have three older sisters who all played volleyball and softball and basketball. My dad coached us when we were younger in basketball, so I grew up in the gym. That's kind of how I tell people. I just was born there and I watched all my older sisters play and so I just was always around the sport and I ended up loving it. And I can't stop, apparently.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: Yeah, the sibling dynamic always seems to have such a big effect on people. What was it like you were the youngest of four? What was it like growing up in that group?
[00:02:33] Speaker B: Well, honestly, a lot of people ask me, like, my biggest role models growing up, and it's usually just all my mom's players because I just got to watch them, you know, for 18 years growing up and being in the gym and just seeing how they play and just learning really quickly. And that's what gave me the opportunity to have like a high volleyball iq, just being able to watch so much volleyball, which most kids don't get the opportunity to do.
[00:02:57] Speaker A: Definitely, definitely. Describe your mom as a coach. What was it like playing for her?
[00:03:00] Speaker B: She's fiery. If you know her. She has a lot of passion for the game. She absolutely loves coaching. She's still doing it today, so it shows how much she enjoys it.
And she was always tough on us as kids because she had to be because we played, you know, for her. So you always have people looking in saying, oh, it's just because you're the coach's kid. But she made sure that it was known that she pushed us harder than anyone else in the, in the gym.
[00:03:24] Speaker A: So you led it all four years at May south volleyball and softball. In softball you were a pitcher, shortstop. How did you choose volleyball?
[00:03:31] Speaker B: If anyone actually knew me in high school, they knew I wasn't a big fan of softball. I had a lot of my good friends were on the team, which made it easy and I liked it when I was younger. And then as I got into high school, it really started to see like volleyball as my main sport. And I also just don't like being outside in the heat and the dirt. It was just not for me.
I was good at it. I loved it with my teammates. But the practices were just kind of just practice. I didn't enjoy going to practice every day for softball like I did for volleyball.
[00:04:02] Speaker A: You preferred mostly air conditioned gyms.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: I do, yes.
[00:04:05] Speaker A: I get it. So when you transferred from Oklahoma, Chris Slam the Shocker volleyball coach, called you the most complete player he had seen in wichita in his seven, what was then 17 years recruiting, coaching around this city. When you were here, you played on the left, you played on the right, and I had totally forgotten about this. You even played setter a little bit. How did you become so well rounded where you could do everything called for on a volleyball court?
[00:04:31] Speaker B: I think a lot of that's just props to my mom, honestly. She had me setting, hitting, learning all the skills at a young age and then I stuck with it. And Emily and I, Emily Hebert, we ran a 62 and it's where the setters both set and they both hit. It's the offense we ran. And so we did that since we were, I don't know, 13, 14 years old. So it Just kind of from a young age, we were just doing everything.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: Why did you decide to play professional volleyball?
[00:04:59] Speaker B: Honestly, I didn't want to be done yet because my first two years of college weren't as expected and I felt like I really only got two years out of my college experience.
And I also didn't know exactly what I wanted to do after college, like career wise. And it just seemed like a great opportunity. Scary, but totally worth it.
[00:05:20] Speaker A: Former shocker Morgan Stout. She was a really good middle here. She's playing in the Pro Volleyball Federation which recently completed its second season. She plays for the Las Vegas Thrill.
Where's pro volleyball in the United States compared to overseas and is it something you would consider playing here?
[00:05:38] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean it's really gotten big in the last two years, three years now. There's almost three leagues in the, in the States. There's Love, PVF and then there's the Athletes Unlimited one. That's the shorter season.
[00:05:50] Speaker A: Okay. And that's related to the softball?
[00:05:53] Speaker B: Yeah, that was just here.
And there's a lot of opportunities. It's just they're kind of working out all the kinks. I think from what I've heard from some players that I've played with and friends that you know, just the organization and everything. It's also not guaranteed. It's really easy to get cut from like pvf, the league. Morgan Stoutson.
The turnover rate's kind of high. So you know, if you get cut mid season, it's hard to find a job if you know, whereas in Europe it's a nine month season. So usually it's a little easier to find a job. You're not waiting out until they start, I think in January for their season. So you have to miss all of fall.
So I kind of like the nine month season. I also love Europe. I've been over there for going on nine years so I don't really see myself moving back.
[00:06:39] Speaker A: What would you attribute the. I guess there's a rise in popularity in the States for volleyball. What would you attribute that to?
[00:06:46] Speaker B: Honestly, I think a lot of the coverage, media coverage has really done a great job and I mean a lot of teams have put on these huge, like Nebraska did the thing in the stadium, the football stadium and they brought a lot of attendance and a lot of people were looking at it and I think it's just been a rise through social media and marketing and just, you know, people really supporting women's volleyball. I think it's a great sport that's been under like or overlooked and they're finally like, wow, this is exciting. It's fast paced, it's high energy. It's hard not to enjoy a game when you go to it.
[00:07:18] Speaker A: So the 2016 Wichita State season ends.
Were you immediately in on going overseas? Was there any hesitancy about all the unknowns about that? Take us through your thought process.
[00:07:29] Speaker B: Definitely. I had no idea what life was like over there. I mean, before me there was okay, maybe Karen Osberger, Sarah Lundgren or walk up and then Emily Stockman. Emily Stockman was there before she went to beach. And so there wasn't a whole lot. And they're quite older than me, so I didn't really have anybody just to ask about it.
But an agent reached out to Shawn Carter when he was here and Shawn sent me his information and was like, hey, you know, are you interested? And I was like, sure. I don't really know what this is about. And then I ended up just doing it. Honestly, it was kind of last minute. It wasn't super planned out. I didn't know I was going to do that. So it all kind of just fell in my lap.
[00:08:10] Speaker A: What is a typical day in the life for a professional volleyball player in Switzerland?
[00:08:14] Speaker B: Yeah, so normally wake up, breakfast, you have a lift or a morning practice, depending on the day.
Come back, lunch, then you'll have video usually before practice in the evening. And then you have a two hour practice in the evening after video and then you're back home, dinner, and you repeat. So it's usually always two practices a day. We normally have one to two games a week. It just depends on our schedule with the leagues we're in, whether it's just like my Swiss league or we're in our Swiss cup or we're in Challenge cup, which we play other teams from Europe.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: I should have asked this question before this one. Yeah, take us through the schedule. What is the. How many matches do you play in a season? All that kind of stuff.
[00:08:57] Speaker B: So we start in August, we have two months of preseason which is quite long.
And we start games usually in October. And then we have about, I think there's 10 team or 11 teams in our league. So we have 20 games with like regular season play, everyone twice. And then within that we have Swiss cup which everyone gets an opportunity to play. It starts from the lower leagues in Switzerland because there's a lot of like young kids, they all play. And then once we get to the top league, then we fill in to like the schedule. So we play that out and then we're also in challenge cup, which you have to qualify for depending on like where you place in the league the season before.
So like this past season we played in Bosnia, Austria and Turkey. We made it to the third round and we lost to a really good Turkish team. And then playoffs are. They usually start in March and they go for about two months, so we finish in April.
[00:09:53] Speaker A: So this sounds similar to soccer, which people may be familiar with. You're kind of simultaneously playing in different regular season tournament, Europe within your country.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: Yes, yes.
[00:10:04] Speaker A: Describe the gymnasiums, describe the attendance. What's it like playing?
[00:10:08] Speaker B: It kind of depends on where you're at. Some have a crazy big attendance. It's similar to like in the States, like when I was here at Wichita State. You know, you go to maybe Evansville and there's not as many people, but you're at uni and it's just packed. So it just depends where you're at. And we have a really good presence in our gym. We're very lucky. We like, we have a smaller gym. I think it holds about 2,000 people or a little over. And we fill it up very well. And it's very loud, which makes it nice.
Some gyms aren't as nice. Some are. It's just kind of depends where you're at. Like we went to Bosnia and the conditions were way below average. I would say it was like cracks in the floor. Just things that you don't. I haven't seen that in a long time. So just it depends where you're at.
[00:10:53] Speaker A: When I talk to basketball players who have played overseas, there seems to be a wide variance in practice styles. How often do you practice? Some of them seem very casual. You kind of show up and maybe run through a little bit. Others, they feel like they practiced way too much is the same way in volleyball. It may just vary a lot depending on the club you're with.
[00:11:13] Speaker B: Definitely a lot of that too comes into like when you're interviewing or like zoom calls is how we do interviews.
You ask the coach kind of how the practice schedule looks. And for us, usually it's really heavy if they're doing jumps in the morning and in the evening. So they like to do more like serve, receive or defense in the morning, serving in the morning. And then it's like full blown attack, like six on six, play in the evening, practice. So there are coaches that overload it and it can get really, really tough on the body. But since I've gotten older, that's something I also always ask the coaches and previous players like, hey, what does it look like day to day just because we have to take care of our body. So I can't go somewhere and, you know, just jump and hit 1000 balls a week and expect to be okay.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: Basketball players will also talk about crazy fan experiences. A lot of chanting, flag waving. They've talked about fireworks going off gymnasiums. Just some crazy, enthusiastic fans. What's the volleyball scene like? Do you have any great stories about crazy fans?
[00:12:11] Speaker B: Yeah, this past season we played Galatasaray, which is a very famous, like, Turkish club, in soccer and basketball and in volleyball. And so a lot of Turkish people live near Basel, where I'm at. And so they had. They sold out the whole. Almost the whole arena that we had. It was insane. They had to put up special bleachers and give them like a special, like, entrance and security and everything because there were so many. And they march in with their drums and their flags and they're jumping on the. The right, like the bleachers. I'm pretty sure they broke a couple things too. It got very, very rowdy. And even our coach had earplugs or like the little buds that you could put in. He was like, it's so loud. If you need. He put them on the bench, he goes, take them. If you need to wear them during the game, you can. But I know some of the coaches had them in because you couldn't hear each other. You could barely hear yourself think.
[00:13:01] Speaker A: So where does volleyball rank among sports in Switzerland?
[00:13:06] Speaker B: For popularity, for profile, I'd say it's fairly high. Hockey is obviously up there.
They're very good. And then soccer, of course, is always going to be up there. It's in Europe. So after that, I think Switzerland is probably, I'd say top four because basketball is pretty big there.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: Also describe the difference between college volleyball and professional volleyball.
[00:13:30] Speaker B: Yeah, that was a big switch for me. Just to understand, everyone's there for different reasons. Some are just there to get their check, you know, every month. Some are there because they love it. Some are just there because they're good at it and they don't know what else to do.
So whereas, like here in college, everyone's on the same page, same goal, you know, we were all very motivated in, like, the same path. Whereas when I got over there, it was just very different and it was a bit harder. And sometimes depending on your team and how you're doing that season, I've had seasons where, you know, we weren't doing very well. And it's like you can do everything you can to help your team. But at the end of the day, you have to make sure you get your good film and you know you're for the next season. So you almost have to be a little bit selfish at times, not all the time. Obviously, it depends on your dynamic, but you have to make sure you take care of yourself. That because it is your career. So at the end of the day, you have to do what's best for you.
[00:14:21] Speaker A: So you played in France and Finland earlier. Did you target Switzerland? Did you want to get to this country or this particular club?
[00:14:27] Speaker B: So what happens a lot with volleyball is most clubs are in smaller towns because the big cities have hockey, basketball, they have the bigger sport, soccer. And so these smaller towns take in these maybe smaller sports.
And I have been in. I was in so many small towns, villages almost, and I was like, I want to live in a big city.
So Geneva was my. That's how I got into Switzerland. That was where I was at first. And so I just took it because I wanted to live in a city and have a life outside of volleyball. Whereas some of the places I played, it was just eat, sleep, gym, repeat. Like, it was the same thing every day. And I wanted to be able to, like, go do something fun every once in a while.
[00:15:07] Speaker A: How long did it take you to get used to Europe in your early days over there?
[00:15:11] Speaker B: I'd say after about two years. I was fine the first year. Definitely culture shock sets in. You're just like, what am I doing here? Like, that first two weeks, I was just like, did I make a huge mistake? But it settles in. And usually if you have other foreigners on your team, it makes it a lot easier.
[00:15:28] Speaker A: What's been your favorite sightseeing, touristy kind of experience during your playing career?
[00:15:34] Speaker B: There's a lot.
So since I do live in Switzerland, there's so many places. Like, I can just drive an hour and be in the Alps. Um, it's gorgeous.
But I'd say in Switzerland, probably my favorite one was just probably going sledding in, like, different areas. Like in the Alps, we went down in Grindelwald, which is like a very big tourist attraction, and we went sledding down the side of the mountain. It's just like a full view of the Alps. It's pretty cool.
[00:16:00] Speaker A: How about food? Has your diet changed? Is there something you really miss when you come back to Wichita to visit?
[00:16:05] Speaker B: It used to be at the beginning, like, seasons, I used to miss American food. Now I feel like it's just Mexican food and barbecue that I miss.
But over there, I wasn't a big fan of cheese, but now I love cheese after living in France and Switzerland. And the Swiss chocolate is amazing. It's definitely worth the hype.
[00:16:26] Speaker A: So is the cheese different, or were you just. You just had to get acclimated?
[00:16:31] Speaker B: Yeah, and it's different cheese, but I just didn't eat a lot of cheese here unless it was on a cheeseburger. I don't think I was, you know, just eating cheese by itself. Whereas now I find myself like, oh, I need a snack, and I'll take a piece of cheese.
[00:16:43] Speaker A: So do you come home? Do you cook your favorite Swiss dish for the family?
[00:16:47] Speaker B: No, I do not. And also Swiss food, besides that, it's more like kind of depends where you're at, because there's the German part, the French part, the Italian part of Switzerland. It's kind of. I mean, depending on where we play in the country, they're speaking a different language at the game. So in each area, there's different, like, food that's popular there. So it kind of depends. I haven't been a big fan of, like, the German food, but the French food I do like. Like raclette and fondue. Like, those are very good. And it's mainly cheese paste.
[00:17:17] Speaker A: Right. Highlight of your pro career. What memories jump out at you?
[00:17:21] Speaker B: I'd say in Finland, my second season there, we won the cup, the Finnish cup, and that was so much fun. It was during COVID which was a tough season, and we were on track to win the championship, but we had someone on our team got Covid, and we got kicked out of playoffs. So we were about to make it to the finals, and I think everyone knew we were probably going to win, so that was a heartbreaker. But that season overall was one of my favorite teams outside of Wichita State to ever play on.
[00:17:52] Speaker A: And what is the mix of Europeans or natives and Americans?
[00:17:59] Speaker B: So it kind of depends which team you're at. So in Finland, that team I just spoke about, I was the only foreigner on the team. Everyone else was Finnish, which is very rare. Whereas now this season, we're going in, we have five Americans, and then probably eight or seven or eight Swiss girls.
[00:18:17] Speaker A: Is there a country in Europe that people look at and say, that's the volleyball country?
[00:18:23] Speaker B: Yeah, there's a couple. Italy and Turkey would probably be the main two. I mean, you could see that at the Olympics. Who's really, really strong in volleyball? So it's usually those strong teams are the ones that have a higher level of volleyball.
[00:18:35] Speaker A: So two seasons at wichita State in 2015, Shockers went 27 9. They won the MVC regular season, won the tournament, defeated K State 31 in the NCAA tournament before losing to number five Nebraska. Next season, 2016, Shockers 26 8, won the Valley Tournament again and returned to the NCAA tournament. What's your best memory as a Shocker?
[00:18:56] Speaker B: Oh, there's so many.
All the NBC tournaments were just crazy. There was the one where we were down.02 and came back in one. And it was just a high adrenaline rush.
But, I mean, we talk. I talk with Emily Hebert all the time about it. Like, we would go back and play for Lambeau or go to one of his practices just to have him coach us one more day because it was so much fun.
But honestly, yeah, I think probably the NBC tournaments were the best just because it was so intense and so crazy and so competitive.
[00:19:27] Speaker A: What is your favorite Chris Lamb memory speech? Baseball analogy? Favorite crazy drill that he dreamed up on the fly.
How do you describe playing for Chris?
[00:19:38] Speaker B: It's like nothing else. I've never had a coach like him since I've played for him. He's always thinking outside of the box.
And oh, favorite drill.
There's so many, I can't even think.
And the stories, I think the soup can story, you can always ask Emily about that one. Don't be a soup can. That one was pretty funny.
[00:19:59] Speaker A: I love the soup can story. So you were there for that?
[00:20:02] Speaker B: No, I heard about it a lot, though. He brought. Yeah, it got brought up quite a bit.
[00:20:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:06] Speaker B: There's some that I could say that I probably shouldn't say. So I won't say some of the stories.
[00:20:10] Speaker A: I understand the soup can story. I'll run through it real quick just because it is my favorite. And it always. It's interesting to me because Emily, as a athlete here, when I would talk to her, she was pretty. I'll say reserved, very. And then after she left, she told me this soup can story. And it was frustrating because I was like, all right, you had it in you to tell interesting stories. You did not until you're already gone. The soup can story is. I think he gathered everybody. She was a red shirt freshman. And he started talking about, I don't need soup cans rolling around in the back of my car not accomplishing anything. Just kind of Helter Skelter, I guess. And so they leave. Emily is holding the door open for everybody to walk through into wherever they were going. The gym, I guess. And Chris walks by and says, hebert, you're not a soup king.
And she marks that as a really important part of her Wichita State career. Am I getting it right?
[00:21:03] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:21:04] Speaker A: That's the gist of it anyway. Yes. So if you, if you run into Emily Hebert, have her recount the soup can story for you. It's very good.
You're helping Emily decorate her office?
[00:21:15] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:21:15] Speaker A: Tell us about your art.
[00:21:17] Speaker B: Yeah, so I like to paint and draw in my free time.
So she had nothing on her walls. So I was like, we need to put something on here. So I drew like this cute little Wu shock and we're gonna frame it and put it in our office.
[00:21:29] Speaker A: Are you still passionate about painting elephants?
[00:21:33] Speaker B: I haven't painted one in a while, but I do have a fair share of elephants on my wall at my parents house.
[00:21:39] Speaker A: I remember that from your time here at Wichita State. You were big on. You were big on elephants.
Plans after volleyball.
[00:21:45] Speaker B: It's a great question. That's the one I get all the time.
I honestly do not have any plans yet. I do want to stay in Switzerland. That's the plan to live there.
So we'll kind of see where that goes.
[00:21:57] Speaker A: And why do you enjoy Switzerland so much?
[00:21:59] Speaker B: I mean, it's beautiful. If you ever visit, you'll know why. Like nobody would want to leave.
But I've also just built a life there. I have a lot of friends and just it's the place I want to be.
[00:22:12] Speaker A: What are you reading or listening or watching that you would recommend to people?
[00:22:18] Speaker B: I currently am binging Handmaid's Tale. Handmaid's Tale. I hadn't watched it yet. I'm a little late because I don't like to watch shows until they're fully finished so I can binge it all because then I'll forget.
But that is my most recent.
[00:22:32] Speaker A: Okay.
Jody Larson, former Shocker, now playing professionally volleyball in Smash in Switzerland. Jody, thank you very much for your time.
[00:22:40] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:22:56] Speaker A: Thank you for listening to the Roundhouse podcast courtesy of Wichita State University Strategic Communications.
We encourage you to rate, review and subscribe. Wherever you get your podcasts, you can find more roundhouse
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[00:23:12] Speaker C: Deck for the Blue Jays.
They'll have two cracks to get that runner home from second with one out here in the bottom of the 12th. The run at second, the tying run in the ball game.
Fastball line to center, base hit. Jim Oddly charges it on the hop. They're sending him home. Here comes the throw. It is in time. He's out. He's out at the plate on a sensational by Jim Oddly. One hop right on the money. And Steve Bruns is dead at home plate. And now there are two down. Shocker. Fans, you may look at that Saturday afternoon, that one play, that might be the play to get you the championship ring. What a throw, Mike. It's the big show in Rosenblatt Stadium. He came up throwing and he threw a strike down Main Street.
