1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - New Omaha Supernova Signing - Kelsie Payne! - July 3rd, 2024

Episode Date: July 4, 2024

New Omaha Supernova Signing - Kelsie Payne! - July 3rd, 2024Advertising 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 couple Chevrolet GMC Studios. Here is your host, Derek Pearson. Brought you by Mary Ellen's Food for the Soul on 937, The Ticket and the Ticketfm.com. Happy July 3rd, everybody. Congratulations. Most of you have made it through your week. And you get a chance to enjoy yourselves tomorrow.

I'll put your foot up and celebrate living the life that we live. 402, 464, 5685 is the starter hamann text line. If you want to be a part of, you have questions for the guest. You have something you want to add to the conversation. Please do so. Greatly appreciate you. You can follow live on the video streams, Facebook, YouTube, X, and Allo Channel 961. It is special opportunities in this day and age that is the official voice of the Omaha Supernovas,

the flagship station, and the voice. of the Pro Volleyball Federation Championships, you get to meet these incredible athletes, these incredible people. And with the recent free agent signing, you get to bring some new talent into Omaha. One of those will join us shortly, but first, Harrison, if you would please,

her new theme song. Through all of this, that CHI Health Center is now officially the House of Pain. It is the House of Pain. Let's bring her here. Let's welcome. her to Omaha, welcome her to Nebraska. Kelsey, Payne, how are you?

How are you today? First of all, thank you for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. I love that theme song. I was expecting that. I love that. No, that is got to be, like that, that's got to be the coming out music for the rest of,

for this upcoming year. That was everything. Let's roll through. First of all, let's go through. You have a great family story. I would like to introduce Supernova fans, volleyball fans here, to the family that is pain. Please tell whose shoulders do you stand on?

I do have a wonderful family. So my mother and my father and my two brothers. So family of five, we all grew up playing sports. My dad played basketball. My mom ran track. Older brother played soccer. I played soccer. We were just all over the place.

So kind of an athletic family and just been super, super blessed to have them in my corner the whole way. Through all of that, if I ask for a pain family trait, a thing that identifies that's common with all of you that allows you to be as great as you are, what is that trait? Ooh, I would say adaptable. Definitely adaptable. That is a strong, powerful thing.

Yeah. So that if you weren't playing volleyball professionally, is that, is soccer a path you to have gone down? or is soccer the reason why athletically you have an edge in volleyball? I would say soccer. I also danced for a really long time. I ran track. I did gymnastics for like two weeks before I quit

because it was just too hard. I've touched a lot of different areas of sports. Okay, so that's interesting because last year Supernova Squad was renowned for its bench celebrations and it's in-between set dance-offs. So are you saying that you're going to be a part of this? Are we adding to now? Have we elevated the supernova's dance capability,

the talent range? Are we better now a year ago with the addition of Kelsey Payne? Look, I don't want to to my own horn. But I have known to bust a mover to. So all I'm saying is I'm not, I'm not shy. I'm not against you. Okay, okay. This is where we are. Now, what's the go-to? What's your go-to move? So here's the deal. The supernova is just one, sets one and two. We're in the transition from one side of the court to to the other. And you need

a song that's going to get your best dance move. What are we going to have the DJ play? You know, I'm so glad you're asking the hard-hitting questions. Honestly, it's at every wedding, it's at every children's birthday party. It's the wobble. I love

the wobble. See, this is this is how the get down happens. Team chemistry matters. And there are different people. We know that there are moments where that's going to be what gets you through. The wobble can get you through anything, I'm telling you. I really can.

And I can tell you, Omaha is a wobble town. Perfect. Oh, I love it. I love it so much. That worked out, fine. The career at Kansas was everything. And with the Superdevers President Diane Mendehall being a member of Rock Chalk Jayhawk Nation, what is the thing about your time in Kansas that stands out most?

Oh my gosh, I can't even pick just one. It really was like the best. I could not ask for a better college career. I still, some of my best friends to this day I met by going through Kansas to pick a favorite moment. I feel like I have to say when we made it to the final four in 2013. We beat the number one team in the country, USC, to advance to the final four. And that was like, I could still play it for you in my mind. Through those moments, there has to be some friction.

Like supernova's had moments during the season where there were some question and you had to reform and redirect. For you and your career, especially at Kansas, again, it might be facing number one and finding a way to get a win. But what was the thing, what was the friction you had to get through to become the pro that you are today? There was a lot. I think the most impactful one I can think of is my switch from middle blocker to right side between my sophomore and junior year. I feel like that's kind of late to be switching positions. Or sorry, freshman to sophomore year. I was like 18.

I think that's kind of late to be switching positions. So that was definitely caused some friction for me personally. To hear you say that, you said it's late in the game for that to have that sort of role in your transformation. But as a pro, isn't that part of the professional responsibility is being able to adapt later in the game? Absolutely, absolutely. And I think that making that change earlier in my career, my pro career, made it easier for me overseas because I'm like adaptable, like I said before. So going through new drills, looking at the game from like a new lens, I think it's really been as what has been what's propelled me through to make it this far.

Through all of this, again, switching positions from an elite position and a top program to another difficult elite position in top program and to have that sort of success, when did you know that, you know what, the change had to be made and what caused it? Yeah, I think it took me a minute for sure because the reason I switched initially was because our right side was a senior and she graduated. And we had four middle blockers, two in my class, two in the class above me. And my coaches were like, look, one of you, one of you's got to move over because we can't really recruit one right now. So any me needy, mighty moe, they picked me. They could probably give you better reasoning. But to me, it felt like they were just

drawing out of a hat. But my coaches were like, we think you can do this. We believe that you can do this. And if you are willing to put in the work, like we think this is going to be, you know, a life-changing move for you. And it really was, and it was not easy. But thanks to, like, my really amazing teammates and coaches, I was able to make that change. We're talking to Kelsey Payne new, new, of the Omaha Supernova's Pro Volleyball Federation Champions in year one, part of the rebrand, the redirection. And it's got to be cool in several ways. But the responsibility of year one was to introduce.

a new brand of professional volleyball to American fans. And that change required, listen, different style of play, different clock, electronics, or it's digital officiating, et cetera.

For you, one, what is the value? How important is it that you get to be the professional icon standard North Star for millions of young athletes around the world. It's incredible.

I don't even think it's something that can really wrap my mind around. And it's something that we talked about in college as athletes like, oh, we wish we had an NBA, we wish we had an NFL. Like, you know, they get to go on and move to the next level, but we either stop playing or go overseas. But to now have the opportunity

to do it in front of my friends and family, and like you said, for millions of young girls that look like me and want to play like I play. I think it's just like, it's crazy. It's amazing. It's beautiful. It's all those things. How difficult is it to travel, to be in a foreign country, and to try to find the proper nutrition, proper resources for recovery, all of those things while being in a different space? Tough, really, really tough.

I think I've been fortunate in the countries I've played in to be with really good clubs, really good organizations that have taken really good care of me. But I've heard stories from other girls, other male and female athletes, both that have really struggled overseas to. communicate, you know, there's language barriers. Like you said, finding nutrition, just the little things that we kind of take for granted here in the States can be really, really tough overseas. You're going to be in Omaha, Nebraska, which is its own space. How familiar are you with Omaha? I have been to Omaha a couple times, not for long. I think the longest I was there was in 2015 for the final four. But it's been a minute. It's been a minute. So again, the nutrition thing matters.

One for you to fuel the fire and the engine that is. But the other side of it is that you need something that speaks to you and your taste buds. So what type of restaurant are you going to have to find in Omaha? Are we going to have to – like, we're connected to all the restaurants. So we just need to know who – what kind of food are we sending to Kelsey Payne to soothe that food thing? that she maybe has been missing overseas. Again, I'm really glad you asked. I have a real bad sweet tooth,

like anything, donuts, cookies, cakes. I love all that. And then sushi. Any sashimi, geozha, dumplings, those are my two, like, sweets and then sushi. See, we know the places. We actually have some talent on this station. Oh.

Who have restaurants. and yeah, and two of them are in Omaha. One is soul food, so you will not, whatever your mother made at home, we can get you. Thank God. We can get you. And they deliver, which is not bad. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, we'll have to hook you up. If you start getting bugged on social media by a guy named Brashon Jackson, you'll know why. Not a bother. That is not a bother at all. Right. Like he can get you. whatever food for the soul you want.

And then, of course, here in Lincoln, we also have restaurant friends who take care of anybody at this station, whatever your flavor of food, they make it for us. They deliver it. So welcome to the food family, Kelsey, that you were about to eat extremely well. Thank you so much. I cannot wait. I look forward to meeting all of you and meeting all of your restaurants.

There's so many. There's so many. I'm really so happy I'm not 400 pounds just from the food so is there anybody from the Supernova's roster that you played with before I don't think so if Coach Byrd counts then Bird would be the only one

Well that was the next question was Coach Bird has to be a part of why you make the decision and you want to sign with Omaha Is that Coach Bird? So what are your thoughts on Coach Bird? What's your connection to Coach Bird? Yeah, she's, first of all, she's an amazing recruiter. She recruited me in college, and she's recruited me again. She knows what I want to hear. But, no, it's just amazing to have a familiar face as I'm making this transition from overseas to the U.S. Obviously, she did amazing things with Omaha last season. So when she came to me and was like, hey, did you want to join my championship winning team? Like, how do you say no to that? So super, super excited to be working with her again. Is there a style of play thing that connects you to Coach Byrd and how she runs her teams? And again, her getting through the situation last year where she was the associate head coach and then the interim head coach and the whole this thing together in year one with all the moving parts and all the changes that had to be made.

But what it is about her and her style of play that fits you? I think she's just really, she really gets it. I think she's good with people and she's good at connecting with each of us, individually, like, she'll have a different relationship with every girl in the team, but it's equal, you know, like she takes the time to learn what makes you tick, learn what works for you. And I think that she's just really good at, like, taking those individual pieces and making a big picture with it. So I'm actually super excited to join the puzzle and to see what she can do with all of us.

What was your tracking for the Federation last year and watching it from wherever you were? What were your thoughts? Did you think it was going to work? Did you think it was better than I advertise exactly what was it from afar? Yeah, I think it was better than I imagine it would be honestly. I wasn't really sure. I was in Italy, so the time difference was kind of throwing me off a little bit, but I had friends that played in the league, so I would try to tune into their games and just seeing like the fan turn out, especially in Omaha, just seeing the amount of people

that really were rallied behind the sport. Like, it was really, really cool to see that. I'm looking for, I have to ask that Kansas has a great fan base. Nebraska has a fan base. There are certain places on the collegiate level where the fans show out in number. Absolutely in the Federation, Omaha was the North Star for fans.

Fan engagement, community engagement, and all of those things. What are the causes that move you, things that you care about away from the game of volleyball that Omaha folks need to know about? One thing I've really enjoyed, we did this at Kansas a lot,

it was just like community outreach. So bringing volleyball maybe to areas where it's not as accessible because it can be kind of an expensive sport, you know, to play club at a high school level. So just like getting people together in the community, bringing them around volleyball. And I think it's a really good way to unite people.

And it's a fun way for people to, you know, compete together. So, yeah, really just reaching out to, like, youth or even high school, adults even, like anyone can literally play volleyball. But, yeah, it just brings people together in a way that I don't think a lot of other sports can. If you're going to play in Omaha and you're going to play for Coach Burke, She is a Jordan shoe fanatic. She and her Jordan won. Literally, we bought her her pair just for championship weekend.

And we gave them to her because we said, this will be for the championship and we held them all year. I don't know how I managed. Yeah, I don't know how I kept a secret down there. But there's that. Let's talk about the Kelsey shoe game. What is, if you're just pregame shoe swagging out, are you, Jordan heels, what do you, what are you doing? What are you walking into CHI Health Center with?

It's rarely going to be a heel. I will be on, every now and then, you can throw a heel on, but like, I got weak ankles. I can't be walking on little sillows all the time. But I love, I call them like a dad's shoe, so like a new balance, an A6. I'll do a Nike dunk from time to time. I'm all about comfort. You really just said ASICs? I don't think anybody else in the Federation, I've spotted a pair of ASICs.

I'm just saying. So we're talking to a unicorn. She's one of one. Kelsey, that's... She said New Balance and ASICs. Wow. Okay. Listen, I'm all here for it.

It's all about the size. You'll see. You'll see the vision. Well, here's the other thing. So we, I mean, so I travel with the team. And you get to learn the personalities and you get to see people at their highest and their lowest. Early, you know, four o'clock trips to the airport and trying to find your way. But a big battle for you is going to be there's some flights where we just have to fly southwest.

and you have to get into the queue, and then you have to fight for seats. And it takes almost a whole year to figure out who needs an ILC, who needs the extra leg room, who wants a window so they can fall asleep, who's going to talk during the flight, who's going to shut up and leave you alone?

So set the table, Kelsey, we got to know. First of all, it's a flight. Where do you want to sit? What do you need? Are you putting headsets? headphones on, pods on, you're reading books.

Give us your, your travel personality. Yep, yep, yep. I would prefer extra leg room. If there's an exit row available, I would not want to hurt anybody, but I would love to have the exit row. Preferably the window.

I will pass out probably before the ground. I mean, the plane even leads the ground. Like, as soon as they cut the engine on, I'm knocked out. So that's my preferred. I'll have my headphones in. I'll talk. Yeah, all, you know, for a little bit.

But then after a while, I'm going to need to put my head down. Now, here's the critical mass because, again, it helps me identify. What's on, what's playing on the iPod? Ooh. It's usually slow, R&B, like, throwback 90s, I said, throwback now, 90s, 2000. I was born in the 90s, so I'm like, it's, you know, but, yeah, like, throwback. I was afraid.

I'm always afraid. I'm old school. I'm an old head. So being around the supernova's, when the phrase old school comes up, I cringe a little because I'm like, no, no,

my old school was actually Motown. Fair enough. Fair enough. So 90s, give me four songs that you need to hear during your flight from Omaha to Vegas. Ooh. It's always,

I feel like in the rotation, it's always something by It's probably like good days. Could be like old Destiny Child. It goes to a song called Girl by Destiny Child. What else? You like some Bryson Tiller from like 2016. And recently has been Billy Eilish.

Her newest album, I'm a big fan. I also love music, so you got me going. Okay. No, this is, again, here's what I know. about sports teams. The personality profiles matter. The chemistry matters. You're having options, again, with all the awards that you've won,

and on this team, what people have spoken about you doing for this organization. And then historically, that in year two, it's a little tougher because the expectations are there. The fan base has a high expectation. Players have a high expectation. For you, in choosing Omaha, what were you choosing exactly? I feel like I'm choosing a team of champions. I think I'm joining a program that I know it's limited in one year, but I guess we can call it a history now as a history of winning.

And like you said, it's a lot of expectations, but I feel like that's part of sports. Like if you're not okay with that, then I don't know. maybe sports aren't for you, but like, I love the pressure. I love the expectations. It's a good drive for us, I think. Kelsey, you are going to be an absolute joy, a wonderful addition to the supernova's. There will be five-digit fans waiting for you.

You're going to be playing in front of 10,000 plus. They're going to be loud. They're going to be passionate. They're going to be smart about it. And they absolutely cannot wait for you to wait for you to wait. wear the colors of the Omaha Supernovas. Welcome to Omaha. Welcome to Nebraska. Welcome to the Supernovas. Kelsey. Thank you so, so, so much. I cannot wait to get started. I can't even put it into words. This is going to do this again soon. As a matter of fact, from wherever, once you get settled,

we need to, because I can do this, you need to have your own show. Yeah, yeah. We'll talk about you. You hear me too much power. I will take it. Yep, I, I, going out on the limb, but that was. was the vibe. So Kelsey, thank you very much. We'll do it again real soon. I'll reach out shortly. Thank you so much. Thank you. Kelsey Payne. CHI Healthita is the House of Paid from this point forward. One of the great finishers, internationally, one of the great finishers in the game.

So we'll toward the break. We'll come back. Dave Turk got it's almost Olympic basketball time. Turk will take us through and break it down for us here on one-on-one.