1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Nicklin Hames and Kenzie Knuckles (Nebraska Volleyball): February 4th, 10:25am

Episode Date: February 4, 2022

Nicklin and Kenzie join to talk about the National Runner-Up Huskers and their new show on 93.7 The TicketScouting report on themselves and each otherVolleyball recruitingAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

You're listening to One-on-One with DP. Sponsored by Beatrice Bakery on 93-7 The Ticket and The Ticket FM.com. Welcome back to one-on-one. Good stuff with Cristiano Seminetti from the Lincoln Stars. Let's elevate. Let's elevate. Let's bring her back. Ah.

Looks like we have a leader in the building. We have a leader in the building. I think we're good. Husker volleyball. I've been here the whole time. Nicklin Hames. I know, Rico. I'm sorry to slight you.

Nicklin, how are you? I'm great. How are you? So, well-rested? Do we get some rest? Yeah, got some rest. I like, I want to make sure, like, I'm not, like, we're not burning the candles at both that.

Like, you're expanding your horizons on, on the court, off the court as a coach, as a broadcaster, as a brander. social media influencer, future football consultant. Goodness gracious. Future Husker football consultant. How many titles do you have? A lot. We're trying to get like, we're going to rely on Nicolent and Kenzie to help get the football program right.

Yep. Necessary. Necessary. Listen, I am so proud of what you guys did the other night and I wanted to do. like a formal introduction to folks for the daytime folks. Did we land on a name for this show? I got a, so me and Kenzie both put it on our stories. So I'm like, okay, let's just see what the people want to hear.

And there's a lot of Nick and Nuck at night. Right? Like I saw that. Okay. Yeah, but I think I like trash talking. I think that's fun. So maybe we'll stick with that one. Okay.

Yeah, we got a lot of interesting. Here she comes. Here she comes. Come on in. Here she comes. Let's bring her in. So this is fantastic, right? That folks are trying to figure out how to engage.

I went to the women's basketball game last night, and I was out in the Haymarket. And no less than seven different times was I stopped to talk about your guys' interview the other night. Wow. Literally like they were raving over you guys. And I told Mark as soon as the show was done, and I said, they're going to change this for everybody because your ability to tell stories is off the charts. And they're great stories to be told.

But folks want to hear from you. And not everybody in athletics has that, right? Where people go, okay, they're talking. Do I really care? They actually paid attention to what? So, Kenzie, talking, talking trash or trash talking? How do we want to fall on this? Let's get you close to that microphone.

That microphone likes you. There you go, Rico. I'm short. Those, what? I'm technically short, too. Short for who? Our team. Yeah, people always think I'm like five, too.

And then they see me in person. They're like, oh, you're actually tall. I'm like, yeah, because I'm standing out there next to six, five people. What do you expect? Yeah. Yeah. And across from Wisconsin. Yeah.

Just so short. Look at Rico over here. Like, yeah. You know, you know what made me feel good? Is I saw, I saw Lexi and I was like, we're the same height. Hell yeah. So, win. Yes.

I was like, she's extreme. She's way more talented than I am, but we're the same height. So I got that. No, you're not. You're really. We're the same height. You're really not. What's listed, we are the same height.

You are really. We are both. Kenzie? Kenzie, is he, are they the same size? Yes. Settle this for us. Let's go. Let's go.

I cannot do 99% of the things she does, but I got this. You can't do any of what she does. Yeah, you're right. Like, what is going on? Okay. So in your mind, what would this, what would this show be? Like, what, in my head, what I saw was, It's just you guys being you and just in front of microphones.

It's interesting. You've got stories. Your family stories are all amazing. Your teammate stories are off the charts. And then you'll be able to take us through the seasons. But I also want you guys to speak on other programs. And I'm not saying being critical. But you guys know how hard it is to do what you do,

which makes you more informed about what it is that a swimmer has to go through to get in shape, stay in shape over the course of a season, what football players go through in the season, what it's like to be a student athlete to manage your time and get all that stuff done. And then still, oh my goodness, I have to have a life as well. So, Kenzie, give me the scouting report

on Kenzie Knuckles as a person. Not as a volleyball player. We know we have that. Give me your personal scouting report of Kenzie as a person. Good question. I would say, are we just talking characteristics? Yeah, yeah. I would say my strongest characteristic is I'm intuitive.

I'm also very lighthearted. I can be serious. I'm very competitive. So that's something huge about me. I think something that's really cool is I tend to be competitive on the court and everyone sees, like, you know, everyone sees the face. It's like, like locked in, ready to go. And then they meet me outside of volleyball.

And they're like, what? I was not the same person. Yeah, so I would say that's about it. Nickling, give your scouting report of Kinsey. Yeah, I would definitely say competitive, very competitive. I also think she's a great leader. This year I really saw her develop into a leader. And it was really cool to see because I've known Kenzie since she's got here and to see her growth.

Wait a minute. It was awesome. Did we get the shoe memo? Oh, we did. Oh, my goodness. We're the same way of link. We had, look, check it out. Okay, we were doing that.

All right, Kenji, give us the scattering report on Nicklin. I would say very thoughtful. She's always been a great leader since I've been here. She's been the only leader. Her and Lauren have been the only leader I've had since I've gotten here, which is pretty cool to think about. But she's grown so much just because of, she takes kind of a different leadership approach to things.

I'd say that she gets to know people and really gets to know the team and knows how to talk to each individual person, which I don't think you get a lot with leadership. And, yeah, I think that she's really grown into being strong with who she is. Sometimes she's a very nice person, so sometimes she kind of just do-too-de-de-de. Like doesn't really say her opinion much, but I think that she's starting to, yeah, really start to have strong values in who she is and be confident in herself. That makes me happy to see. Okay, Nicola, let's go deep. Come on, let's go deep. Scott yourself.

I am a people pleaser. Always have been. And I always think that maybe it was because I was coached by my parents. Not in a bad way, but I think just when you're coached by your parents, you're always trying to please them, not just as a parent, but as a coach. And so I've kind of struggled with that my entire career, but I've kind of, took a step in just being who I am and saying what I'm feeling because I feel like I have good insight on things, but a lot of times I wouldn't speak up.

But yeah. You guys told us the other night you're both dog people. And as a coach, I have to remind players of commitments. You guys promised pictures of these puppies. You guys promised to share pictures. You're right? Right? Like they have puppies

And they were supposed to tag 937 ticket with these adorable puppies And we didn't get it I look I got I got the account on my phone I did not get any puppy pictures One right I feel kind of cheated Right

Like it just I would have I would have 100% shown my daughter And she'd be like puppy And then she would have wanted it And I'd be like I'm sorry we can't do it Well but we I offered 937 the ticket As a place to puppy sit for them all We can't

We can't. We have to. A two and a half year old and a five month old and a puppy, that's too much. Oh, that is spectacular. That's way too much. That is spectacular. Especially if the puppy gets big enough, then she'd be like, oh, I'm going to sit on the puppy. I'm going to ride.

No, we can't do that. I want to ride the puppy. She did that with the farm dogs, and luckily, they're very nice, but they just, like, laid down. She was like, they were just like, please stop. This is how we're going to do. So what's the day like, what's your normal day like now at this place? Beach volleyball is on the horizon. What's your normal daylight?

What do you guys have to do? Well, I'm in class, and I'm in my last semester until I graduate. So, you know, I'm in the, I've yoga twice a week as a class. Oh, no. Yeah, I'm also in insect biology. We're learning about insects. So, you know, I have to go to those classes. That was the first time I've ever been to class since the pandemic.

I've often for all online. Are you dissecting? Is that? Are you doing any dissecting? Is it? I think so. I don't know. We have to, like, collect, like,

30 different bugs, though. From where? Are you collecting bugs right now? It's cold. I know. We have to wait, I guess. So spring and then just try to collect all of them before this huge project at the end. Nicklin Hames, bug collector. Add it to the list.

Yeah. There's another title. Bug expert. That is spectacular. Really? Like, are you just like stalking creeks that are frozen and hoping that bugs are somewhere below the, yeah. Wow. Hoping like I find a cockroach in the corner.

Are you not you not creeped up by any of those bugs? No, not really. I couldn't do it. Me neither. I can't do that. Kenji, what's the average day? What do you do? So I graduated in December.

So I just started grad, or I just started grad school in January. Degree in business marketing. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop it. Continue. I told you.

I told you what to do. There's a woman in this building. currently who can help you with that. And then the grad degree, what are you going to do with that? Hopefully I'm going to be able to get my MBA. Right now I'm doing like a non-bachelorette degree program, so I didn't have to take my GRE, my G-MAT during fall. Yeah, so I'm kind of doing that during spring,

and I'm still taking classes that are geared towards it. I just am not technically in the program yet. So we'll see how that goes, but these classes are pretty hard. What are you taking? Employment law. Okay. I have a test on that, which it's whatever. And then my other class is legal environment, something like that.

It's not as hard. The employment law is pretty hard, though. It's like the legal side of HR. So not like the hiring and firing and interviewing, but it's more like the legal side of it. That ulcer in my stomach just popped up when you start talking about that stuff. Anything that has the word law. Taking over a radio station, the FCC is just, it's enough. I had no gray hair before all this.

I don't know what happened. That's a lie. Okay, Rico, shut up. You're just for men. You're just for men ran out. Taking away my fun. It's going to be this kind of show for me that you guys have the ability to break down. I mean, you pay attention to what other people are going through as well.

You know how difficult it is for you to play at the top level in an elite program. You guys knew, you both knew early that this was the place for you and that you were going to do this. but from your individual standpoints what's the most difficult thing about recruiting what's the thing that you don't wish on anybody i would say just having to choose so early at a young age it's like even if you kind of have your mind made up that like no i'm going to wait till i have a better head on my head on my shoulders and be able to make a better decision it doesn't really matter because as soon as one girl starts committing early, then the next does, and the next does.

And then it's like, you're getting phone calls left and right. Like, hey, we have one scholarship left. Are you taking it, if not, I'm giving it to Sally Sue? And you're like, I don't know. So it's like you're kind of forced to be like making this a same. And you committed early. When did you commit? How old were you?

I was 14. So let that marinate for a second. What was I doing in 14? 14 years old accepting phone calls. from college and saying, okay, make a decision. It's slightly weird. Yeah. And they time limit it. They're like, okay, you have these many weeks

or we're going to go to the next person. Wow. When did you commit? I committed when I was 15. Is that like 14, 15 around that age? It was normal. That's how it was. Like everyone that age was committing to different places, but they changed it. And so now they can't even talk to you until you're a junior and you can't even commit till after that.

Is that volleyball? is that women's sports that that happens a lot more frequently? Because in basketball and football, those late commitments are everything. You guys are talking about it as freshmen and sophomores at high school, which, again, I'll state, is just bananas. It's just crazy talk. I wasn't even thinking about college. 14.

I was lucky I could catch the bus. Like, oh, schedule. What? Be on time? I was asleep. Like, I don't understand how this works. I was trying to be cool in high school. No, I was trying not to be a nerd.

Like, that was... Exactly, I was trying to be cool. Like, I didn't understand it. You guys were talking about playing at a high level. It means your time consumption with the sport is off the charts because you're doing it all year wrap. Did it affect friendships? Like, are your teammates your friends? Yeah.

Yeah, there are best. Because we spend so much time together. And when you play at such a high level program, you go through a lot together in the ups and downs. And so you kind of build these bonds that it's hard to build with the other friendships. That kind of sounds bad. But when you go through something together, you just build stronger bonds. And in high school, that's how it was too.

Your friends were who you played with because you couldn't really, you didn't have time to see anybody else. The fact that both your parents are coaches is like spectacular. Even if your parents aren't officially coaching their coaches because they have to do. Like they're coaching other people's kids too and most likely coaching other parents. We're going to go to break because we have a special guest. We all talked the other day and I told you, one of the best food places in the entire state is friends to this station. Well, I just saw Charles Phillips from Mary Ellen's Foods for the Soul in the hallway.

And because he is a man of kindness and greatness, I know he brought samples. I know that. So we'll throw it to break. Nicklin is here. Kenzie's here. We'll bring in Charles Phillips from Mary Ellen's Food for the Soul. We'll let them do a little tasting. And then we'll get to the break and get you out of one-on-one.

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