1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Lexi Rodriguez (Nebraska Volleyball Libero): March 29th, 10am

Episode Date: March 29, 2022

How did you get to Nebraska, tell us about your parentsWhy Nebraska?Team USA Tryouts and winning a gold medalTell us about Coach John CookAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's time to go one-on-one with D.P. Coming at you live from the Coppull Chevrolet GMC Studios, here is your host, Derek Pearson, presented by Beatrice Bakery, on 937 The Ticket and The Ticket FM.com. We've got a good one on Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. You guys know the routine. You can text in the show or call in.

Sarder Hammondt, Textline, 402, 464-5685. Same number as the Honda Lincoln Hotline. You can follow on the Sartarhamen Live video stream. Facebook, YouTube, Twitch. Just hit me with a what-up. That's all I want to just hit me with a good morning. And we can have a conversation. I want to thank the folks from Beatrice's Bakery for making sure this happens.

We're going to send our guests out with some really cool goodies from Beatrice's bakery as well. hopefully she will enjoy them. It is a pleasure to bring her in. The list behind her name is so long and varied. We'll touch some of them in the course of the next segment here. But let's bring in from Husker Volley Balli Balli Balli, Lexi Rodriguez. Young lady, thank you. Thank you for having me.

Thank you. It was so cool. For the folks that made it down to Tanner's on Friday and you guys came in, And you guys were exceptional to the folks that were there, taking pictures, signing autographs and such. And I wanted to thank you directly for it. But then I immediately went into mode because this fan base absolutely adores you. Like you own the town.

You own Lincoln. Oh, my gosh. Right? Yeah. All right. Pretty cool stuff. So I want them to. get to know you on a on a deeper level and usually what I do with folks the first time they're

here is to ask them how they got here so behind every great great athlete are parents that care and parents that do everything and make sacrifices for you to get here and become the version of you that you are talk a little bit about your parents who are they and what do they do okay so my parents I'm from Sterling Illinois so it's kind of a smaller town in Illinois My dad's a UPS driver and my mom just works at like our local YMCA. And like growing up I loved volleyball. I had an older sister. She's just finishing up college and we both love volleyball and there wasn't really any like

local clubs. So my mom and dad took the chance at like our dreams and goals and we would drive. to near Chicago. It's like Naperville area. It's like a suburb about an hour and a half away from where we lived, about four days of the week and then including weekends. So pretty much almost every single day, they would find time in their schedules if it meant they were running on

three hours of sleep. They would do it, but they drove us up there all the time just so we could get some of the best training in the state. and it finally paid off. I mean, my sister got a scholarship to play college volleyball. I got a scholarship to play college volleyball. And none of it would have happened if they weren't willing to sacrifice literally all their time,

energy and money into making our dreams possible. It's wonderful when your heroes are in your house. Yeah. Right? That it makes it easier for you. Yes. You've got an older sister, Dan Clemson? Yeah, she just finished her grad year at Clemson.

Right. And then parents who wealthy in love, right, that they were able to kind of pour that into you. Yeah. When did they identify that there was something unique and special about their daughters? Well, I think with my sister, she was like 13 when they were like, she was super athletic. and I think she had chosen volleyball at that point, so I think that's when they realized. And then right as soon as they took her up,

I was like, oh, can I go, can I go? And they were like, no, like you have to wait until you're 13 too. But then I just kept begging to go up there. And then they ended up taking me when I was like eight. So you started playing at eight in full. Yeah. It makes my heart full to see the look in your face when you talk about your parents. Right?

that for them and that you're aware and appreciative of fact that they did what they did for you because some people say well that's expected no it's pretty unique to have somebody that's willing to do that for you when you talk to them now do you talk about the journey you know from age eight to to to now i yeah i think i mean just how you said that like how appreciate how appreciative i am of them. I think that kind of came after I got here and realizing like, whoa, they really did spend my whole entire childhood just trying to make my dream come true. And at the time, I mean, I was a teenager, teenage girl who was just like, why can't I do this and stuff like that? And I didn't really appreciate them the amount that I wish I would have. And but now that I'm here and that,

I mean, I made it to a national championship and all these amazing things are happening. I can't help but realize that it wouldn't have happened if it weren't for them. Right. I mean, you have to learn how exceptional people around you are. Yeah. Because then I hope you identify how exceptional you are, right? You have another hero in the house and a sister who, in whatever way, knocked down, knock some doors open for you, right?

It doesn't happen without big sense. Yes. Give us a description of your big sister. She, I mean, the one word that I can really think of is like a protector. I mean, if any more, I mean, there's always like comments online of like random people who like to talk trash. And she'll see one random one and she'll text in our family group chat and be like, can I respond? Like, can I tell them like blah, blah. And I'm like, no, sis, like just let it go.

It's fine. but that's how she is. She always protects me. She's been my role model, my biggest supporter. Like, she literally would have a college match, like her own game. And she'd be asking her coaches, is there any way I could get out of practice early to go watch my sister? And, I mean, that's just who she is. She's very selfless, very caring.

And I love her with my whole heart. It's a part of, again, what people perceive about you, even from my first. distance. She goes, okay. She has her head on right. She loves what she does, which tells us that there are people around her that have covered you in love. They absolutely make sure that no matter where you are, that thing exists. So there's the family and then we're all on the shoulders of coaches, right? Coaches who identify us as greater than even we imagine ourselves. Who are the coaches in your lives before you got to Nebraska who kind of elevated Lexi Rodriguez. There's a lot, a lot.

But so I played at a club called Sports Performance for a really long time since from like eight to like 16. And the club owners were Rick and Cheryl Butler. And they pretty much taught me anything and everything that I know. know about the sport. And along the way, they had many coaches, like, within their, like, program that coached me from all different ages. And I would just say that club in general taught me so much and kind of, like, even not just about volleyball, but they were very big on, like, teaching you about life and how to be responsible and everything like that. And I think that's

helped me a lot just, like being on my own now and even coming in as, like, I was 17 when I first got here. And so coming into college that young, I think there are a huge reason of why I was able to stay on task and handle a big load of school, volleyball, schedules, all that. We're talking to all everything, Lexi Rodriguez. All everything. Whatever there is, she's all that. And I think that's pretty remarkable. You made a decision early that you were going to play at Nebraska. Yes. Why?

I get that question a lot. Yeah, and it never gets easier. It doesn't. Because some of the things you didn't recognize were part of your process. Yeah, so I came to a Nebraska camp, my summer going into freshman year, so I was 14. And if I'm being honest, like my family and I had a discussion before, and, like, at this time, it wasn't very common for laboros to get scholarships at all. And I was coming from a family who really didn't have the money to pay for

three, four, however many years it was of school. And so got invited to a camp, and we were really just coming here to show them what I could do and see what they had to offer. If it was nothing, that was fine. If it was something cool, we would think about it. But like we had a discussion, I had a discussion with my parents that the odds of it happening probably weren't going to be very high. And that pretty much we were coming here just to get like my heartbroken and to move on. That was the.

Like that's, that's remarkable. Yeah. So came here, loved it. Thought like my mom was in the hotel, like calling my dad. Like she loves it here. like she's going to be so upset, like, all that. Like, anything you could think of that was going to go wrong. Like, we were like, we were prepared for it.

And then the last day of camp, the coach cook ended up offering me. And a 14-year-old girl who stream was to play in the Big Ten, nothing seemed better. And, I mean, I don't think I really was old enough to make that decision. I don't regret it, and I ended up committing, like, as I walked out the door. Like, I didn't leave Bob Devaney before I committed, and then, I mean, so many people were like, what if you made the wrong decision? And every single time I'm like, I didn't. Like, I know this is a place for me.

What was it about Nebraska that had you starry-eyed and wanting to be here? I think it's just you walk into the gym and even the atmosphere of the team, the coaching, like everything, you can just tell that there's like something different here of how much they value like their foundation and like the culture that they built through years and years and that everything's like the same. Like you hear Coach Cook saying the same like phrases over and over again about the teams that are here. And I think from the like moment I walked in, I could like feel that.

And so that was a huge reason. And then the fan base obviously. was amazing and made a difference too. Before you got here, you got to do a thing that any athlete in this country aspires to do, which is where the red, white, and blue. And then you took that opportunity and made the most of it. I mean, literally made the most of it. Winning gold medal at juniors is still, like, that's powerful,

especially in the space that had never been done before. Yeah. What can you say about that journey, about that tournament, about that medal when you look at it, what do you think of? I think it's just a huge representation of just like volleyball and like women's volleyball especially and just like how much we're willing to like put in work to like represent our country and to make a difference. but I think what a lot of people don't see is that, I mean, we were in Egypt. Right? We weren't being fed the greatest of food. We had to be driven with like armed guards with like huge guns.

Like there's a lot that people don't see where it's just like we're willing to go to like extreme lengths to like win for our country and like just like make a difference. and so I think that was something that's kind of special too. But I'd also imagine that the tryout process has to be surreal. Oh, yeah. That was hard. That's a different story. Right? Like that, I mean, skin in the game, you had to battle to just get the right to try out

and then within the tryouts themselves. What was the most difficult thing about the tryouts for you? For me, I think it was just, like the trial was like 10, 11 days long, and it's just like every day there's like, I think we had three sessions each day. So there's a lot of like. There's a lot of volleyball. A lot of volleyball. And I think the hardest part for me was if I had like a bad session or even just like a bad day was just kind of like letting that go and understanding that this is a long like process and that they're not just going to look at one day and be like, this is the reason that you're not going to make the team. and that was like hard for me because I would have like a bad session and then I'd call my mom and I'd be like I'm not going to make it mom like I don't know what to do as has your mom like just recorded all the times you called and said this is not going to go well and it absolutely went well like probably I bet she has a list somewhere right like at some point and and you have humility and it and it shines and

mad respect for it but you are a stone cold killer on the court like this is this is rare air four libbyros ever all-American two of them from the university of Nebraska you're one of them ever in the history of ever yeah i guess that's pretty good that's got to be i mean the you're humble but you are a killer what Is there a switch that goes on? I don't know. I really don't know. Right.

Just to walk in this thing, for you to do a thing that's only been done four times ever. And then you look at the company, the list of names, those are the elites of women's volleyball. Do you stay in present form, or do you ever step outside and look back and go, wow, let's see, we're on a ride here. This is pretty amazing.

I would say both, but it's more like, whoa, like, did that really happen? Like, some of the stuff that happens, I'm just like, like, it's almost hard to believe. It's, I'll tell you, from fans who love this sport and who know athletics, we watch you and we often do the very same thing. Like, what did that just happen? I posted during the NCAA tournament that, well, the earth is covered, 90% of the earth is covered by water and the other 10% by Lexi Rodriguez. And that seems to be like a statement of truth.

How you play the game is revolutionized the way that position is going to be played. From this point forward. Yeah. Like anybody that plays Liberia here has to measure up to Lexi standard. you've got to be proud, like proud. Yeah. That's fair. Yes.

I am very proud. Okay. Like, I'm not putting you on the spot by asking you to say whether you're proud of what you've done and accomplished. I think it's not even like proud of, it's proud of myself, but more sort of the fact that like I'm setting like an example for these like younger kids and I'm kind of giving them hope. Like for me, that's been like the biggest thing that's happened since like this past season is just seeing how much hope. hope and like confidence i give like other people well you're doing that for the young girls of lincoln you're doing that for the young girls of nebraska you're doing that for the young girls across the country you're even doing it for young girls across the world who are watching you

excel not being the tallest not being anything other than authentically you is good enough to make you one of the greatest volleyball players in the country and then in the world. Like, look, I'm humbled by the fact that you're willing to come in and share yourself with these listeners. But I wouldn't expect any less, because that's what greatness is. So I do want to say that. I'm going to ask you to give your honest, unapologetic, unafraid. scouting report on John Cook.

On John Cook? Yes. Who is he as a man? He's like a, oh, this is so hard. There's so much. Like, he's like, the person, everyone on the team, like, you praise him, you love him, but you're also like, oh, my gosh, like. He's going to get me for this.

Yeah. Like, he's not going to give me a. Right. He's like a, like a very stern, like, grandpa. He's going to, like, love you. That's going to be. That makes sense. That's going to be, like, he's going to go, thank you, Lexi, but grandpa, really?

Like, he's really, like, you understand. Couldn't I just said dad? Well, it's just like he's like, he has, like a caring side and he cares so much about his players, but at the same time he has standards and he's going to hold you accountable. and like stuff like volleyball-wise, but then there's also like him as a person, and he cares for his players so much on and off the court. I'm going to ask you the same thing about a friend of ours.

Jalen Raves. Jalen. Jalen. What is, who is Jalen? He's a lot of energy, lots and lots of energy. Anyone who meets him probably loves him. I mean, he's caring, he's funny. He's a great coach.

I mean, last year, He taught me so much just in like a semester of like training. Then I probably learned my whole life. And so he's awesome. The whole team loves him, loves to work with him. I'm going to ask you a question. Again, asking for your honest reply. Do you have time for one more segment?

Yeah. Okay. We will throw it to break here and then we'll return. The All-American, Lexi Rodriguez, we'll join us here on one-on-one. We'll carry through as long as she's willing to stay. We'll be right back. Download our app by searching 93.7, the ticket in your app store. You're listening to One-on-One with DP on 937 the Ticket and the Ticketfm.com.