Alejandro De Mendoza: Welcome to the volleyball coach podcast. I am your host, Alejandro Dimmondosa. I'm a club director, coach, and someone who's just passionate about helping players, coaches, and parents grow in the game we all love. Each week we break down training, mindset, performance, and strategies with some of the best athletes, coaches, and experts in volleyball. The goal is simple. To give you tools, stories, and insights you can use right away, whether you're competing as a player, leading as a coach, or just supporting as a parent. Today I am stoked to have Gert Leisha. He's the founder of Mentor Volleyball Academy. He's an ex D1 volleyball player. He's honestly just a really good guy and I'm stoked to have him here. What's up Gert? How's it going? My name. I love it. I love it. Dude, man, you've been like, you're just someone who's lived volleyball on like every level. NCAA finalist, USC starting center, Albanian national team. You you help with the women's national team. You're a business owner.

Gert Lisha: How's it going, Alejandro? Excited to be here, my man.

Alejandro De Mendoza: You know, you just founded a mentor volleyball academy. that's amazing. That's a huge short. First thing I got to talk about, Lewis University. Do that, that, 2014. Talk to a little about it.

Gert Lisha: Yeah. Lewis was an incredible experience and definitely fit perfectly into what I needed at the moment of my career. I started playing club volleyball my 17s year of club, so 17U and obviously as a setter usually D1 setters are starting at like 13s, 14s as I would say normal so I was pretty behind. So I needed a lot of development and somewhere that I could like really train a lot. Also being a gym rat, that kind of connected with the Lewis identity, ⁓ way that Dan friend has built that culture is really unique. And yeah, it really fit into how I work and ⁓ gave ⁓ area and environment to get better, which I think is super important. ⁓ And stuff we'll talk when. I think about my club with Mentor Volleyball Academy. yeah, I think Louis, ⁓ Dan runs one of the best programs in the country. I'll say that forever. Like he's incredible. He takes a lot of project players and is able to develop them ⁓ a really high level. I think he's done that more consistently than any other college program. When you look at no, not really high level recruits and then becoming all Americans, that's happening consistently over there. ⁓ He's the only common denominator.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah, in the 2010s definitely the Midwest with its Lewis and Loyola. They had a little bit of a run. Ohio State for 2011, the Midwest, definitely had a little bit of a run in the 2010s. They really, I'm glad to see for the sport just seeing them push forward. It's not just always the usual suspects, which we're kind of right now. We're seeing the LA, Hawaii's and-

Gert Lisha: Yeah, exactly.

Alejandro De Mendoza: the Long Beach State. They've been kind of dominating, but it's ⁓ pretty cool to see that the Midwest teams have their little bit of run not too long ago.

Gert Lisha: Yeah, it was awesome. And even with the Lewis, Loyola, Ohio State guys, majority of them were coming from our local clubs. So was really people staying homegrown. yeah, ⁓ it was really cool experience to play against the same guys in club and then in college at the highest level. It was very, very cool experience.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Would you grow?

Gert Lisha: I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago in a town called Oswego. I moved around a little bit. did a year ⁓ my year of high school in Albania. I lived with my grandparents and then came back and ⁓ then to ⁓ Naperville, which is maybe a little bit closer to the city and just had better ⁓ volleyball and So that was my junior and senior year, but majority of my childhood was in Oswego.

Alejandro De Mendoza: What club did you play for?

Gert Lisha: performance. Yeah. Yeah.

Alejandro De Mendoza: sports performance, they've been dominating that area forever, especially on the girls side.

Gert Lisha: Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's a Especially when I was growing up. It was a not a lot of competition We basically anyone that was competing in Chicago played for sports performance ultimate adversity Those are the main three so Yeah, and again like I got very lucky in my career ⁓ athletics a lot about luck and you got to get put in the right situation for real and like

Alejandro De Mendoza: you

Gert Lisha: I got put into an incredible situation at sports performance. could even go into like my senior year of how lucky I really got or my junior year, how lucky I really got when I joined Sprite. like, so I was telling you, started my 17th year and I ⁓ hands down worst setter in that gym. Like no question. I was just a tall kid, but what caught their attention is I've always been a gym rat.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah, let's do it.

Gert Lisha: So I'd always just go in the gym and serve for like two hours. Sprite really cool policy where like the doors were open all the time. So you could just go in whenever. I would just go in before tryouts that summer. I would serve like two hours in a row till my shoulder would hurt. That was like my metric. It's like, I'm just going to serve as hard as I can to my shoulders. I'm going to start setting. I would do that all summer, spend like three, four hours in the gym. And yeah, The owners of Spry, they came up to me and ⁓ loved my work ethic. They saw I was like a big kid. And when came around, the starting center of the 18 ones team, he tears ACL. So before that moment, was going to be on the 17 threes team, the bottom team and try to work way up. So when he got injured, They approached me and they're like, hey, we'd like for you to be a development player on our 18 ones team. That was a common thing that Spry would do. They would take a backup for the setting position or one of their main positions and they would just get a younger kids to train. ⁓ So I'm like ecstatic, right? I'm like in my house, losing my mind. I was like, I can't believe it, whatever. Like team with Thomas Jeschke on there. Zach Perrick was the starting center. Matt Callaway, middle, JP.

Alejandro De Mendoza: me.

Gert Lisha: We had a lot of Tim Schenken, we had a lot of really good guys. So I was excited. Two weeks ⁓ the season, the backup setter who is now starting has a double lung collapse ⁓ he's out for like two months. So now I get thrown in as a starting setter, five one, I don't know my rotations. And I'm playing with Thomas Jeschi, the best player or one of the top outsides of the country at the moment.

Alejandro De Mendoza: What?

Gert Lisha: Right? So that, that was a story of itself, but just to show like the type of luck it takes where it's like, I get thrusted into like such a high level team right away and kind of got thrown into the fire in a real way. And that was so huge for my development and really fast tracked everything that my career ended up being. So yeah, like I was saying, the luck plays a huge part in all of this, I think.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah, I think a really big part, know, maybe you could speak to this a little bit, but your really matters. ⁓ You ⁓ if really want to develop really quickly, you know, were put in a situation where you're in a, ⁓ with a of really good volleyball players, maybe guys have been playing for a little bit, for quite some time. And ⁓ like, sure really pushed your game much quicker if you were as opposed to you let's you started on that 17 threes team what would you agree?

Gert Lisha: Yeah. Oh my God. Not only not it's everything. It's the level takes it up another notch because right. Like the same mistakes aren't OK to make on the 18 ones court that are made on the 17 threes court. What you're working on on an 18 ones court is way more catered to like a college style versus 17 threes and. At Spryo was amazing because it was a master program, so everyone did the same practice plan. But still the intensity that was being given into the 18 ones, ⁓ on like an energy level eyeballs. We had three coaches on the court at all times. then having players like Thomas ⁓ who wanted to compete for a national championship and he has a setter that doesn't know his rotations. So he's letting me know about it, like every day. And we're almost fighting every day, but it basically just pushes you to your limits. like it pressure on every level, to the point where the coaches will come up to me be like, Hey, Gert, if you can't handle the pressure, like we'll just put you on the 17 threes team. We'll bring up the the center from the 18th Tuesday. It's okay. But ⁓ you to go get it. so I just, that type of environment, I would go another thing is like, another thing I talk about That's really interesting. I didn't even know what private lessons were because when I would show up to spry, I would show up so early, they just started working with me for free. So they literally like Troy, Troy guilt, the owner of sports forms right now. He was like the main setting development coach. He took me single day because I was just coming early. They're like, you know what, let's do it structured. Like start working with me every day.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah.

Gert Lisha: like the attention to detail, one-on-one coaching, going to practice. We're doing like three hour practices, four days a week, lifting, everything. So everything stacked on to each other, obviously like breeds a improvement rate that was pretty crazy. Where I went from being the worst setter in the club my 17s year to the best player my 18s year within 12 months. And like, that's not an accident. whatever stuff like that happens, like that's not like people are just hanging out. It's usually, usually people have put a lot of time into it. and yeah, getting into a 18 ones environment, think helps that process out a lot.

Alejandro De Mendoza: No. ⁓ Yeah. Did you have any doubt? when you, when you, when that first happened, like, was there ever a moment where like you had a little bit of doubt or about like, man, do I even like belong with these group of guys? Cause it's a, that's pretty jarring dude. ⁓ that's a big, that's a really big jump. ⁓

Gert Lisha: It... Yeah, it was... remember during Trials, I was watching the 18s, because the 18s were separate from the 17s. So I'm watching the 18s with my dad. And I'm watching the team that I was going to play on. I'm watching them, and I talking to my dad. I was like, man, ⁓ I don't if I'll ever be able to reach that level. Like, I don't think I'll ever be able to reach that level. So internally, You always have that fear. I think anyone that says they don't isn't, isn't being a hundred percent honest. Now in the same breath, I'm a crazy dude, bro. So like for me, when I get put into the actual situation, I'm, to compete. And I think that was one of my best attributes ⁓ was logically that how good I was, but There was like another part of my brain that would like take over and I didn't care. I was like, I deserve to be on the court. When I was there, I was ready to fight every day, like verbally, like work ethic, everything, like just every level of fight was in me. I would forget about all that stuff. That stuff was more so like from the outside looking in. But once I got in the fire, It was very natural for me to just compete. And I feel like, again, like I was very, I was very lucky to have had that mentality so naturally, because I think that's something that's not very natural for everyone. And I also think it's something people talk about almost like if you either have it or you don't. And I don't a hundred percent agree with that. I think it could be built and maybe in the same way as like a vertical can be built. Like maybe you can't hit a 40 inch vertical at one point in your life if you can't get over 18 inches, you can improve a lot. So I just was very lucky to have had that mentality to not be scared of the moment, even though I logically knew I should be.

Alejandro De Mendoza: No, love it. I think that speaks a lot to you about your mental toughness and just fearlessness. ⁓ me a little bit about growing up in Albania. That must have been a trip compared to the United States.

Gert Lisha: Yeah, so it was really cool. mean, so back story, my parents immigrated to Italy where they had my sister and they lived there for about three to four years. ⁓ Then mom was pregnant with me and they immigrated to the States. And basically were in the United States. We'd stay in the United States for the whole school year. And then for two, three months in the summer, we would just go to Albania. and we would hang out with our family. Did that my whole childhood. And then I went into my freshman year where I decided to do a full year of schooling there and lived with my grandparents, mentor, my grandfather. That's when I lived with him officially my freshman year. So that was 2009 maybe, I think 2009. yeah, it was a super unique experience. My parents brought it to my attention when I was in eighth grade. They were like, hey, we think it would be a good idea to go back, like to get really good sports training, get more connected with your family, learn how to read and write. I knew how to speak, but I didn't know how to read and write. And of like understand culturally more about where you're from. They felt it was really important. And I, ⁓ again, just kind of like, down for the challenge almost in a weird way. And when I went to Albania, I think that year ⁓ the year that I defined what my work ethic was. Whereas before, I was very comfortable at home. ⁓ And know, it sounds weird to say like everyone just goes home every day, but like when you get put into a different environment at age 13, 14, and your parents aren't at home every day.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Mm.

Gert Lisha: And like, you're living with your grandparents, which obviously they love you, but like, it's not the same. you're kind of fending for yourself in a lot of social situations and like trying to like learn the environment. So for me, it was like a fast track to adulthood and threw ⁓ in a very sports environment that would break you. The Balkans mentally, they try to break you. the whole goal ⁓ they want to break you and push you to every limit. going back to when I was talking to you about Spry, I was already used to that pressure. Cause when I was in Albania, if you didn't perform, it was an issue. Like the style of coaching does not translate to the United States.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Mmm.

Gert Lisha: It's very different. So, yeah, it's like they, I would almost say it's a very, how we were talking about a little bit before, it's a cultural thing for them. So it means a lot to them when you talk about athletics, maybe a little bit different than the States. Like you look at the fans over there, it's madness. So yeah, for me, I felt like Albania was incredible.

Alejandro De Mendoza: The Europeans do different.

Gert Lisha: helped me connect with my family more. It was the first time in my life that I was truly outside of my comfort zone on every level. actually went to Albania and I was playing soccer at the time. I'll give you an example. Yeah, so I played soccer my whole childhood. I'm actually named after a soccer, ⁓ a soccer player. His name is Gert Miller. He was like the leading goal scorer in the World Cup.

Alejandro De Mendoza: ⁓ really, you win?

Gert Lisha: for a while. So I played soccer my whole career. I go to Albania. The idea is like, I'm going to go get really good training with the soccer program over there. So we go, we go in the mountains of Albania. All right. Go in the mountains for a like month camp. And we're talking like workout in the morning and then two practices every day. So crazy work, like two, three hour practices, like they're We're running mountains in the beginning of the day, going into like these different fields. It was, was crazy. But that was the first time that I like broke through a wall work ethic. ⁓ maybe that'll be a little bit of a theme that in my head, I feel like working hard is a skill and it's something that somebody to show you how to break through. And like, think that's why you see a lot of times college athletes will get put into like an environment and like, they're just starting lifting and like working out really and practicing more intentionally, like, and they take it to another level. That for me, it was the first time that I broke through and it was like three practices a day. I was like, let's do it and push myself. It was really hard.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah, all it was for you, you know, get taken up to the mountains.

Gert Lisha: Yeah, dude, I'm telling you like nobody. There's no self-service. This is before cell phones were like really even that active. Like you don't have smartphones. So we're in there and it's real work. So I do this whole training camp. feel the best shape of my life and I feel like I'm playing the best I've ever played. We go and the team is now picking the travel team for the first game. Right. And they do it in front of everyone. So they basically have everyone like in a huddle and the coach just has his paper and he just starts calling out names. All right. So he's calling out the names I'm like one of four people that are left without getting picked for the travel team, which is cool, whatever. And the coach, right. To push on the wound. He's like, you know, Leisha, I, thought that you were going to be much better ⁓ after training program, but. He's like, you still suck. In front of the whole team. I'm 13. Right? And he's like, maybe you're not cut out for this. Continues. Right? Me? I'm devastated. So like, at that point, it was like, ⁓ my God, like, this is, this is terrible. Like I've, I literally tried harder than I've ever tried in my life. ⁓ didn't work, right?

Alejandro De Mendoza: ⁓ man.

Gert Lisha: I go home, I'm crying, like super upset and it's mentor here and my dad were sitting with me in a room and they're like, Hey dude, fuck that team. Go, uh, go work out with, uh, one of my dad's best friends. Um, our time, uh, he was the head coach of the pro team in the, in our home city. So basically.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Mm-hmm.

Gert Lisha: I started working out with him and started learning some volleyball movement stuff. Like nothing too crazy. I would go to practice, not play and just watch. And then I'd work out with him one on one and just like to set a ball, like super basic, like set a ball. How do you like do some footwork? Exactly. so I hadn't like been playing yet and on setting a little bit. My dad was like, if you're going to go, like, I think it should be a So am I okay? So.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah, the fundamentals.

Gert Lisha: We go, start working out with them. And then I continue the three ⁓ a day. So I'm like, I'm gonna work out with him right ⁓ school. And then I'm gonna work out at home. ⁓ practice for the pro team was like ⁓ to midnight. Right, super late. ⁓ I would go, I would work out with him right after school. ⁓ would have my tutors for every class because I was learning.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah.

Gert Lisha: how to read Albanian at the same time of learning math, right? So was like two things at once. I was having to put a lot of time into the school part. I would like work out in my room by myself, do like pushups, sit-ups, whatever, body squats. And then I'd go to practice and I would just watch, warm up, whatever. And then would just watch them play. And that was the start of my introduction into volleyball.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Mmm. Yeah.

Gert Lisha: And yeah, that year, I was saying, that year, more than anything, gave me the structure of what it looked like to dedicate to something. And I am forever indebted into that year. And I feel like that's probably the most formative year of my life. If I look back on.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah, I know like your grandfather was like a really big, ⁓ made a really big impact in your life. What are some things that maybe your grandfather taught you that you still use today?

Gert Lisha: So ⁓ founded Mentor Volleyball Academy, ⁓ the inception of it was me, ⁓ and get into my past ⁓ work trucking companies, but basically when I was going into this field, I was I want to create something that is so meaningful to me that I won't stop. And my grandfather was that for me. When I think about what he taught me, I... Whether it was my grandfather my father, any like male figure in my life, I'll say this expands more than just mentor, but any male figure in my life was truly dedicated to their work and their family in like a really deep way. And meant that my conversations with mentor, my grandfather were not very frequent because he was working so much. Like he'd always be working, same with my dad. But when we did talk, it was very meaningful. I think that kind of started the bug of me being curious. So like when I did have sit down opportunities with ⁓ mentor, I would ask a lot of questions. But I think genuinely it's really simple. Like for me, when I see somebody dedicated on that level, and finances mean nothing to him, like where he doesn't care, like whatever he would make. latter part of his career, he was an author. So you'd write these books, right? I'll... Yeah.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Mm.

Gert Lisha: So this is the priest that he wrote about for about 20 years. His is Ndram Yeda. He was an Albanian priest. And then there's my grandfather. So he wrote like 12 books ⁓ on guy. He felt he was a very influential person in Albanian community. ⁓ Back then priests were

Alejandro De Mendoza: But wow. you

Gert Lisha: not to say less about the religion, but more so about like community building and creating it. Cause like the infrastructure wasn't there. So like we're talking about like villages that don't have a lot of like access to medication, food, education. Like the priest back then was kind of like a everything person for anyone in the area. So my grandpa felt that he was a very influential person in Albanian community and he dedicated the latter part of his life writing about him.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Okay. Hmm

Gert Lisha: So any money he would make from selling these books would go directly back into making more books. this cycle, changes you view work, money, everything. not to say money doesn't matter, but the work was always number one for him. And he was truly dedicated to his craft in a very

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah.

Gert Lisha: unique way that I had never seen before. Like, unlikely, like my dad, when he came to the States, he had to be a truck driver. My dad hated that shit. Right. But he just did it for money because we had to live at a certain point. But my grandfather kind of like being from his home in Albania, like not having to move across the world to like start this new life. He dedicated his whole life to his craft ⁓ and was always second.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah.

Gert Lisha: And I think that was probably like one of the biggest lessons I learned from watching him operate on a day-to-day basis.

Alejandro De Mendoza: video. Just like, you know, lot of people want like, they have passions, they have things they're interested in, ⁓ sometimes ⁓ reality of things, you know, like you said, like your father gets to, ⁓ know, he comes across, pretty much across ⁓ world and you he had to do something he didn't really enjoy. ⁓ You very, two very different ideas of how to live your life, you know, where sometimes it's just circumstance ⁓ where you to, have a family to provide for, you're gonna, you might have to some sacrifices for that family. ⁓ then you have the other side, there's people out there who dedicate their whole lives to a crap and like you said, money is second. ⁓ ⁓ really awesome that ⁓ really got to see both sides of kind of ideology.

Gert Lisha: Oh yeah, like, and I'll even say another layer to it where it's like, my grandfather, so my grandparents, my parents, they grew up in a communist regime in Albania. Albania was fully communist when they were growing up. My grandfather, born and raised in communism. And there was during the 91, 1991, there was a kind of a breakdown of the government. Oh, sorry, not 91. It was like 97. 97, 99, stuff was getting shaky. And everyone was telling my grandfather to keep a gun in his house. Right. To protect his family. My grandfather was super anti guns and violence and all this stuff. So he was like, absolutely not. Right. To the point where People would set up and were telling them like they're going to set up bombs in front of your house and just like let it fly. Why? Because my grandfather was an intellectual because he was author, he was the head of the museum, teacher, very, very smart individual, worked in politics as well after the communist party was down. basically like the communist regime They either took those people into spies and like help them work with regime or they would try to kill you off. So it got to the point where both of his younger daughters, like my mom's the oldest and then he had two younger daughters that were still with him. They fled to the United States to live with us for eight years. So they were basically my older sisters, right? So just another layer of how much he didn't care. And he was like, I am going to do what I think is right. And like, if that means and in this situation, like his kids had to move across the world. He was like, I guess that's what it means right now. it's obviously extreme scenarios. But it's crazy, man. It definitely shapes you as an individual, I think.

Alejandro De Mendoza: No, yeah, definitely. I that's who we are. We're just in a culmination of our experiences. That's what makes up who you are. The experiences you had with your mentor, experiences in Albania, the experiences you had at Lewis USC, that shaped who you are. And that's pretty awesome. I would love to hear how, okay, so you're Albania, ⁓ you club, you start club at 17th, and... get me into a little bit about your collegiate experience, right? So obviously you started out at Lewis, so let's talk just, I know we talked about it a little bit earlier, but getting into it, like the culture, the leadership, like what really separated Lewis that year, the years you were there?

Gert Lisha: ⁓ Yes, I was there my freshman and sophomore year. Unluckily for me, was and this was right before I joined the Alabama National. I was doing a USA high performance tournament. So basically, before the NCDP, it just A1, A2, right? So ⁓ basically I was in group right.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah, high performance.

Gert Lisha: below the training group for like the youth national team and all that stuff my senior year. whatever is cool, I'm doing that. And beforehand, sorry, ⁓ I jumped little bit. My senior year of nationals, I'm playing against our rival the challenge match to get into gold in top eight. We're playing against Ultimate. super close game, we lose 25-23 both sets. But during that game, I land backwards and I basically broke my wrist, but I didn't know at the time. So I played the whole summer. It's weird. The scaphoid bone, it's like right here. I have the scar here. It doesn't show up in x-rays in the first month. I don't know why. Yeah, super weird. Or it's like a common thing. So I go, I go to the doctor. They're like, no, no break. Probably a sprain.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Hmm. Mm-hmm. That sounds... okay.

Gert Lisha: So I'm like, okay, so I keep playing, playing, playing. When I get to Lewis, I even start practice, Dan comes up to me, he's like, man, he's like, your wrist still hurts? I'm like, yeah. And he like presses down right on my scaphoid. Because he had like, obviously had been in the space before he knew. I freak out and he's like, you're gonna get an MRI tomorrow. Get the MRI, scaphoid, because it's in a weird spot in your wrist, it's a six month recovery. So I'm out my freshman year, right? So.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah. Mm. Right,

Gert Lisha: I go from, I go from playing two years of organized volleyball to then miss a year right after. So that definitely hurt me in my development, not being able to set a ball for like six months. but when went into Lewis, right, I wasn't able to play, but man, the structure there, I'll say the attention to the weight room was crazy. The attention to detail. our skill development and systems as a team. I think one thing Dan does really well is he might be one of the best coaches to implement defensive systems ⁓ into program and really maximize the blocking and maximize what his team is. ⁓ And it is really big Midwest kids that don't have great ball control. So the idea is like, If we're going to maximize this team, how can we be really, really physical at the net and just put a lot of pressure on them with our physicality? So I would say, weight room, the systems, and then film. And Dan would literally, with the setters, ⁓ would do our film with our team and then he would go one-on-one and he'd watch film with the setters, like every few days. And was a mandatory rule.

Alejandro De Mendoza: you

Gert Lisha: So I go sit with them and we learn how to watch film. Another learned skill that like isn't inherent. I think it's very intimidating sometimes for athletes to watch film. a lot of times I think common talking points are like, yeah, like film doesn't really help me. Like it's not really like my thing. Where if you know how to film, I think it literally explodes your ability.

Alejandro De Mendoza: That's crazy.

Gert Lisha: to develop at like a way faster rate. Just gives you a different perspective point of view. And you can see a lot of things that maybe you can't see or feel when you play. ⁓

Alejandro De Mendoza: No, I 100 % agree. I think actually that's something in college that really transformed my game was watching film. Like I would watch practice film, I watched game film. I would love to hear if you don't mind like a little bit about what you learned at Lewis, like as far as like, you know, some like just key points about when it comes to watching film. Cause I think whether it's coaches, parents or players, like dude, that's, I think that's a really valuable piece that, especially now with huddle, man, I feel like every. club team I work with or talk to, they all have, all these kids have access to film. So, I don't know, can you give us a little bit of like, maybe a Lewis, how'd you guys break down film, or what are some key things to look at when you want to look at film?

Gert Lisha: Yes. I think you can look at it in two ways. So I think one way when you're watching film, this is another thing is like you can watch film and be watching for something and then have to watch the same film to watch a different perspective. And it just is your focus changes. like it's not enough to just watch one practice through or like one round of setting. You have to watch a lot of different areas of what's happening during the whatever you're watching game or practice. I would say one level is at your mechanics. ⁓ So a lot of things that we would do with Dan would be like, all right, let's sit down. And as a setter, let's watch what's your footwork looking like coming off the net? How are you ⁓ coming the ball? Are you squaring up? Are you under control? Are you contacting at the same point? And how's your follow through, right? So we'd like break down all the setting points and maybe not go through all of them, but would be like hot topics of the week or whatever that we had been talking about that time. And we'd go and we'd watch for it. I think these are areas that like you still need to like get a lot better at. This is areas that you're improving on. This is maybe something new that we're seeing. Right. So that would be one level would be kind of like personal mechanics. Second level is how are you connecting and jelling with the team? So in terms of set tempo, set location, set decision making. So when we would look back again, right? It's looking at what is the area that is effective for a hitter to hit a ball? And it's like, are you hitting that zone? Because I think too often we'll get stuck into like hitting a target and it being like really small, where I think the zone is bigger than people feel, but it's still there. So it's like, I think noticing, are you setting balls that are hittable? It was like a very like common talking point.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Thank

Gert Lisha: like is this ball something that your hitter can swing to score? If that's it, like we're in a pretty good spot. Your tempo. And I came into Lewis, that was ⁓ an that we were starting to like speed up the tempo. It was still pretty slow when I had gotten there and Dan pushing to speed up the tempo in the go ball, red, and the big. ⁓ So we would watch for all that stuff, right? So personal mechanics and then how are you gelling with the team? And these two things you'd have to watch many times, same type of film or the same piece of film to get all of that information out.

Alejandro De Mendoza: No, I love that. So you obviously learned a lot at USC, sorry, ⁓ Lewis, right? So red shirt, got your, out six months. Then you actually got an opportunity to actually get some playing time, right? At Lewis, right? And actually play. then, but then you made the decision for your junior year to go to USC. What was that transition like in that decision making? ⁓ then ⁓ can talk into a little bit about your time at USC.

Gert Lisha: Yes. You know, it's funny because that was when transferring was very not normal. ⁓ ⁓ it was... Yeah, it was not the transfer portal like it is today. ⁓ It was very, very abnormal. So, I think kind of going back to what makes me great was that competitive fire that I was gonna go in and like...

Alejandro De Mendoza: No, not at all, No, that's why I got to talk about it. Like, dude, people didn't transfer back then.

Gert Lisha: My sophomore year, like the idea is like, I'm going to go in and compete for a starting spot. Right. So like, and that was very apparent. Like that wasn't like a, like, did he already make a decision? Like it was straight up like, Hey, it's me and it's Scott, Scott Pfeiffer. We live together. That's like one of my best friends. Right. And it's like, you guys are going to compete. I remember we had a conversation in the beginning of the year, cause we knew we were going to be really good. And it was, that was, that was the one position that was not determined. And we're like, listen, Whatever happens, gonna be friends still. Like, gonna compete and you wanna get the spot, I wanna get the spot, but we're not gonna let it affect our friendship. So like, let's go compete and ⁓ after We compete, have a really good preseason. He ends up winning the spot. I play a lot, honestly. a backup setter, Dan put me in a lot. way more than you would think. I think I played every single game. like at some level, like he would, he would put me in front row for certain situations, put me into serve, whatever like area that I could help. So he was very flexible. I'm like, again, he put me in a lot, me to start in few different situations. so in pre-season as well. like that was incredible, but yeah, man, like we had a amazing team.

Alejandro De Mendoza: ⁓ wow.

Gert Lisha: We lose 23-21 in the fifth set of the finals against Loyola, which was heartbreaking. But for me, when I lost the starting spot and had the super successful team, number one in the country, we're undefeated, we're like killing everybody, and I lose the spot, my competitive side comes in and I'm like, look, Scott's a junior, I'm a redshirt freshman. I... I'm going to be taking a big risk going into the situation again next year and I might have to sit out three years in a row. So I might I'm doing the math and I'm like, I started organizing about two years. I sat out one year injury. Another year I lost the spot. If I do it again, I'm going to have sat out more than I've played volleyball period. Which may not really help my development. And I really want to go play pro, go play on the national team. Like my goals are high. So I'm like, you know what? I want to go into the transfer report. And that was a hard decision to come to. It was like maybe like a month or so. And I think, I think Dan kind of knew that I was iffy because in the beginning of the year when I lost a spot, he, I remember he was talking to me and he was like, Hey, uh, he's like, if you ever decide to transfer, you got to let me know right away. And, and I, and at that point, I had not thought about it, honestly. Like when he said that I was like, why would I transfer? I'm want to start in the squad right now. Like, what do you mean? I think he knew for the team, it was the best decision in the moment. Scott was like more mature. He was a steadier setter. Maybe my upside was higher, but that's not really what you're looking for in the setting position all the time. Like you want somebody, when we have five all Americans on the court, like.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah. Bye for now.

Gert Lisha: you put the ball up consistently and be like a glue guy. We don't need you to create points for us. So that, I think, is something he felt. And it kind of got to the boiling point then naturally. And then honestly, it was halfway through season. And I walked into his office. And I was like, look, I talked to my parents. And I want a transfer. I want my papers. I want my release. ⁓ I want to start like looking at my options now, see if I can get into something. it was a three hour conversation with Dan, two hours with our assistant coach McCarthy, another hour with my club coach that had, so my club coach for spry, he joined on as a volunteer assistant. So then I have him too. So Brian Johnwick. So I'm talking to the whole coaching staff because obviously they had invested a lot of time in me ⁓

Alejandro De Mendoza: Hello. Yeah, absolutely.

Gert Lisha: As much as I wanted to play right away, I was a centerpiece for them down the line. So it was a big deal. I occupied a good amount of scholarship for them. again, this is like they're investing in me and me wanting to leave ⁓ a wrench in their plans. But it ended up, at first, yeah, it was really rough, but I think they understood that it wasn't like a joke. I was being so, by the time I had talked to them, it was done. wasn't interested in ⁓ swaying or wanting to make it about me. I didn't tell anyone on the team, it was just between me and the coaches. So, all right, you can have your release. Let's just say anything to the team and talk to see what you like. So.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah.

Gert Lisha: go backwards a little bit back to my nationals, my 18s year. my ⁓ year early in the tournament, we play against ⁓ Green SCVC, who was the head coach ⁓ Andy Benish and Riley Mallon who were at USC, right? I was, I had like sprained my knee before I broke my wrist. was hobbling, but I was, I was thugging it out.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah, I'm a goon.

Gert Lisha: like just limping around. It was rough. But I think Cam saw that ⁓ and was like, kid's a warrior. I found out later, like when I was getting recruited after Lewis. So I have that situation. I go to USA High Performance and he's one of the coaches there and I love him. I was like, this guy is unreal. Like, know Cam, ⁓ super like, mental and like very like energy style. Right? So like Cam's unique, bro. ⁓ So for me, when I was like, I want to transfer, get my release, but I started looking up every roster in the country. I'm like, and it's not that crazy, right? Like men's volleyball, we're limited at that time. We're talking about like 40 programs. You know, it's like, so, and realistically, like the ones I'm going to transfer to, like ⁓

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah, no, Captain's my boy. He's awesome. Yeah. It's like 30, yeah 30, 40, it is not that many.

Gert Lisha: that are like on the table. So I go and I started looking and I see Michael Christensen is graduating the next year. I see Cam is on that roster. I know Andy from USA High Performance. He's really a player, Lucas Yoder. So I had a lot of kids in my class that were amazing and I love Cam. So I was like, I'm gonna text Cam. I texted Cam. He,

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah. you

Gert Lisha: He was like, yeah, man, we're super interested. I'm to show Bill Ferguson your film, all that. started talking. Basically ends up being USC, UCLA, Hawaii. I'm talking to Zarkovic from Hawaii. He's Serbian. I had talked to him before, like when we had played against Hawaii ⁓ the Balkan love, you know what I mean? Hugs, all that stuff. ⁓ Zarkovic also told me, like, if you're ever interested in transferring, let me know when it came down to it.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah.

Gert Lisha: Like we, I was talking to Hawaii, talking to UCLA with Brad Keller and Spraw. That was kind of early stages of their, ⁓ kind of UCLA tenure and then USC. ⁓ so I'm having these conversations. We're in the finals, right? have our servant pass that morning. Dan friend calls me over and he just turns his phone like this. ⁓ And like Bill Ferguson. resigns from USC men's volleyball head coach. And he's like, does this change your opinion about transferring now? Cause he knew that USC was my top option. I was like, Okay. So back to the drawing board. So now, now I'm stuck because at that point USC was talking to me about offering me the most money they needed a starting center. So like, was a perfect scenario for me. UCLA, they had Mike Amah.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Mmm. Wow, that's, ⁓ that's right.

Gert Lisha: And there was talk about him potentially playing on the pin, but I think that was kind of like just they're opening their options up. Like at the end of the day, like when they saw Mike have set, it's kind of like a done deal, right? Like he's unbelievable. ⁓ and, and then Hawaii, Hawaii had Jennings Francisco, who is a starter for them. And then they had Joe Worsley coming in. So, so there wasn't a lot of great.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah. talk. No, he's really good at it.

Gert Lisha: options outside of USC that I felt like I could go in and make impact right away. And then Ferguson gets fired. And a top three candidate for the USC job? Dan Friend. So now like, ⁓ my God, if Dan gets this job, I'm actually not going be able to go anywhere. This is terrible. Whatever.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Nah, just cooks. Just cooks.

Gert Lisha: Long story short, I'm waiting and just to kind of see what happens. They hire Jeff Neigart. During that time, I had taken an unofficial with Nikes and Cam at USC, went through the campus, loved it. We talked about what was potential for money. then Nikes got the job. Within a few weeks, I was his first sign that he made. So it was hectic. I was stressed.

Alejandro De Mendoza: See ya. Yeah.

Gert Lisha: At that time, my parents had already moved to California. When I decided to transfer, they moved to California immediately because they knew I was going to go out there. So it was crazy, but it was awesome. that was my transfer portal story. was, was very ⁓ chaotic and stressful, but ended up putting me in a really good situation at USC with Nines. was awesome.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah, awesome. What was your experience at USC? Where were some of like your just your thoughts like, you know, being a starting center, you know, running running high level offense, ⁓ training comparison between USC and ULIS.

Gert Lisha: ⁓ amazing, right? Alright, I was- I was coming in right after Mike Christiansen. So the shoes to fill were ⁓ unimaginable, right? Like, it's like, you can't reach that. It's impossible. I think the expectations were heavy. And Niagara was a first year head coach. And as much ⁓ people want to make that out to be like a really easy thing, it's very challenging.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah, yeah, easy. Yeah.

Gert Lisha: I think that there was ⁓ lot learning curves that were occurring with me there and kind of like being injected into like a new program. As much as USC was like establishing everything, it was a new regime ⁓ and Cam there anymore. It was just Nygaard. Nygaard and he had hired Gary Sato and Todd Hollenbeck. So ⁓ it was brand I go to USC. ⁓ Same story as Lewis. I go, break my first four months at USC, I break three bones in my hand. So I'm out all preseason, not playing. Then my first, I break, dislocate this finger in practice right before we play Penn State and Ohio State in our first game. It's kind of like the first point challenge-ish. It was like a tournament USC UCLA Ohio State Penn State. So we go I broke in whatever tied it up. I'm good. I'm playing. I officially win the starting spot. Right. It's awesome. It's Nice wanted to be like open battle with three centers that were there. Jack Yoder Michael Mulaney and me. So we go battle it out. Go to that weekend. I win the spot. We come back conference plays about to start.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah.

Gert Lisha: We're warming up like a servant pass type of practice right before the game the next day. And I to do a triple block move. I already dislocated and broke my finger. So my hand was kind of like ⁓ stretched I make block move, get my hand caught in my middle shirt and get a spiral fracture in the middle of my hand. That goes, I get surgery. now I'm like, they're telling me three to four months here out, out for the season. I was like, ⁓ my God, bro. So this happens. I'm again, locker room. It's terrible. I'm so excited to start new year, new team, everything. Then the head doctor at USC, Dr. Gamret, he brings into his office and he's like, Hey, he's like, we just did this new surgery on Juju Smith Schuster. He was on the football team at the time. Same thing. And like, He's like, we had him in surgery seven days later. He caught a touchdown with that hand. He's like, we'll put a plate in your hand. He's like, it's going to be invasive. We'll put like seven, eight screws in there. But he's like, when the incision is healed, he's like, you could play. He's like, even though your bone is still broken, it's fine. Like it won't, it won't move. it's going to heal way better. So I'm like, yes, run it. ⁓ we do it, do the surgery. They get me in quick.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Damn. AHAH!

Gert Lisha: I would say the biggest difference institutionally was the medical staff at USC is unimaginable, man. They are aliens. ⁓ ⁓

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah. ⁓ you can't compare the two. USC, they have much behind their football program, especially. The at USC and their athletics program is nuts compared to Lewis.

Gert Lisha: It's- It's crazy man, I'm telling it's unbelievable. So so that was that was really ⁓ that was really unique to experience like that to like flip from being like three months I'm off for the season to like ⁓ I can still play like halfway through Do the surgery and start playing again rough year. We're all over the place like Starters getting injured. I think Andy got injured for a little bit Lucas was dealing with some stuff like we're all over the place have a terrible season, right? losing record, whatever. Going into the next year, everyone comes back, we're healthy, and it was great, right? We were competing against top teams, inconsistent team. We would go beat Long Beach and then lose to CSUN. We'd beat UCLA, lose to Concordia. And not to say that CSUN and Concordia aren't top programs, but you're beating number two in the country and then you lose to an unranked opponent.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah.

Gert Lisha: It was very up and down for us. And I think part of that is kind of being a new program and like finding out stylistically, like what we're trying to do. We had the talent, but we just weren't able to like be as consistent throughout the year. That would be, that'd be my biggest like differences when I experienced it was just Dan had been at the helm for so long.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Joe. Yeah. Still is.

Gert Lisha: the systems are just so embedded in the program that there is no thought going behind like, what does Lewis volleyball look like? But Nygaard coming in ⁓ such a big name in volleyball and like understanding the game so well, it's like, he wanted to create his own identity, which like makes sense, right? And that just takes time. So for me, I saw as kind of like we were the first Right. And I think like the building blocks, like what we see the program is right now, where it's kind of like been top five program for the past few years. they made a final six appearance after I So it's been incredible. And I'm so happy for Niagara. And I text him all the time, any like milestone, cause it's like really cool to see, it's really cool to see him have created his own identity at USC. ⁓ And I'm really happy to like be a part of it and be the beginning of it.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Not awesome. Yeah, I know exactly. It's not easy being Just in that like transition period, know, like where things are you know, like you said, he's just trying to find his identity in Night Guard and Obviously, you're absolutely right, know SCI in my opinion is absolutely killing it. I think they're doing a really good job I think they're a dark horse this year for sure I think a lot I know people talk about him, but I still feel like they're slept on to be honest I think I think I think they're gonna be

Gert Lisha: 100%.

Alejandro De Mendoza: really really really good this year. know Dylan Klein is guy's so good. ⁓ So they're gonna be ⁓ definitely the team ⁓ ⁓ look out for in my opinion. But dude that's awesome. I love that experience. So ⁓ kind just talking about like so you get out of college ⁓ right and you to you run.

Gert Lisha: ⁓ my God.

Alejandro De Mendoza: a FedEx-ground contract business. Tell me about that into building your academy.

Gert Lisha: So. I graduate, right? Was the starting center for those three years. I like I had a pretty good career. A lot of injuries didn't allow me to maybe have the trajectory I wanted as we talk about luck. Some areas I was really lucky, some unlucky. And I think it just kind of like balances out over time. And it was at the point where I graduated, I'm looking at my pro offers. And unless you're a first team All-American, the money's not great, right? So it's like,

Alejandro De Mendoza: No.

Gert Lisha: So it's like, I'm getting offers, but nothing substantial. And my dad comes to me and he's like, look, you just graduated. We're done in the United States, right? I have older sisters. So was like, I was the last one. It's like, you're done. I want to move back and start coaching the pro team back home. He's like, if you want, he's like, you could come and take over this trucking company that we've built with your sister and me and your mom are going to go back and go back home. If not, I'm just gonna start to look to sell whatever he's like, but I think it's a good opportunity for you to start your life. So as I was looking at it, I was like, you know, this is an incredible opportunity in business for me to learn how to make money. Which again is like, like we were talking about earlier is not everything, but it is very important. So super hard decision. That was probably one of the hardest decision I made in my life to stop playing. when I felt like I had so much more to give. But ⁓ I was looking at it realistically, my goal was always to play on like an Olympic team. So for me, was like, I don't ⁓ a clear path, ⁓ I'm willing to risk five years of my life if I don't see it being really, really clear. Having conversations with Matt Furbringer.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Thank

Gert Lisha: It's like, can I come back to the USA gym? And it's like the transfer fee to go from Albanian Federation to the US Federation is crazy. And it's like, unless you're going to be an Olympic roster, like it doesn't make sense for us to transfer you. So it kind of was leading to the part I was like, I wasn't seeing ⁓ a path. It was more like a shot in the dark. And for me, ⁓ I like, you know what? I'm going to make the decision. I hadn't talked about anybody. I just remember calling my parents. I just like broke down crying. was like, yeah, I think I'm done. I'm gonna do trucking. Let's do it. So I go into trucking. My dad, I shadow my dad for like six months. Like me and my sister. My sister had been working with him for a few years. And six months, he dips out. And situation where I get thrown in the fire. And he's like, I don't really care what you do. ⁓ He's make sure enough money is in the bank account. and you're doing your stuff and we're good. If not, we got problems, right? as I'm going that four year span ⁓ I kind of take over the CEO role and get thrown in the fire in a business sense and how to run a business on the bare bones. Trucking is very blue collar ⁓ and got to learn how to deal with really difficult people, a lot of different people, all times of the night, right? There's no like,

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah.

Gert Lisha: on off switch because truck drivers are going all night and they're going all across the country. So it was a super high stress environment, but I learned so much. ⁓ it just.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah. What was that transition like from like being a player to like now you're a CEO, you're a leader now, right? You're leading.

Gert Lisha: It horrible, ⁓ was so rough, dude. Just ⁓ figuring out your life. people talk about when you stop playing sports, and especially someone like myself who, volleyball was my identity. Maybe that's not a great thing, but it was genuinely my identity. ⁓

Alejandro De Mendoza: Hahaha! you I think a lot of athletes feel that way. I felt that way. I was lost after college. Lost.

Gert Lisha: Man, like even having the opportunity for my face, like first six months out of college, I gained like 30, 40 pounds, felt like terrible. I was like looking at myself and like, what am I doing? Like I felt disconnected. felt almost.

Alejandro De Mendoza: the structure of being on a team.

Gert Lisha: And, and not playing was almost, explained it this way. think stopping and like retiring from volleyball was almost like experiencing a death in my family. It was like that extreme to me. And like, maybe that's a lot, but it was like that where it's like, my whole life is like going to restructure it out and that like I went to. it was like, my biggest stress reliever was volleyball. Forever it was the biggest therapy for me. It was everything so like that not being a part I almost wanted to disconnect totally I was I don't want to work out. I don't want to watch volleyball I don't want to do nothing. I don't want to see it. I can't so I go into the trucking space After that first six months I'm like, know a minute I have to like take real care of my health and like work on being like a high-level CEO and like like train my brain So I go on this four-year journey building getting better running company expanding my own branch with my sister work. Everything's going well. And then it starts to get to a point 2020, 2021, right? COVID years. You have a lot of time to think. And for me, it was like, I was 26 turning 27. I'm like, man, like, I don't know if I want to do this the rest of my life. Like, I hate this. Like,

Alejandro De Mendoza: BLEH!

Gert Lisha: It's great experience. the money is there for me to like start my life, but I just can't picture myself being 40 years old running a trucking company like that. I just wasn't connecting with it. And it was like, the more was going on, the more I was getting closer and closer, like a depression. And I was like, man, you know what? I got to the point. I was like, I think I'd rather be homeless and just get back into the volleyball space. And if that means I just coach club and I can't pay rent. That's what it means. And that's okay. I'm to go out and I'm going to try to build something in the volleyball space. So have a conversation with my parents. a fabulous conversation as any family business and kids leaving, right? Not, not great. They're not happy about it at the moment. but yeah, basically again, another situation where I just was comfortable, like throwing myself in the fire and being like, you know, I'm not going to like ease my way into this. I'm just going to go. So,

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah.

Gert Lisha: The easing of it was when I was still working, I was like, I'm going to start this podcast called the volleyball mentor. And it was connected with my grandpa. The idea was I wanted to recreate my grandfather's ideology of how to learn and transition that into the volleyball space, AKA the volleyball mentor, which is what I was identifying as, right? Like that was like the connecting point. I was super excited. I remember I was walking with my aunt.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Mmm.

Gert Lisha: I was talking to her about it. She's like, I have a really good feeling about my stomach. women in my family always like have that innate feeling, right? I don't know if it's like a foreign thing or whatever. ⁓ It's like, I feel something good about this. have to go do it. So I go, I cover the 2023 season ⁓ the Men's NCAA. It was awesome. Like traveled was Grand Canyon, coming out party.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah. Or just a girl, or just a woman thing. You know, that's they say, the woman is intuition. Yeah.

Gert Lisha: Andrew Rowan's coming out party. lot of cool things just happening in college volleyball. So I did that and it was like, if I do this and I really focus on it and I could commit like four hours a day with no money, kind of going back to like the mentor ideology, right? It's like, ⁓ I I want to do it for real. So I do it. Everything goes good. Then officially in, I think, ⁓ May of 2023, stopped working, trucking. I had interviewed with a bunch of clubs in the area. like my basically I was like, all right, now I'm going to interview a bunch of clubs and just try to get to a situation where I could pay my rent. So I just went to every club. was like, I need to work as much as possible. And like, who's willing to give me like as much leeway to have as many teams, whatever. And met with a lot of clubs, T Street, Wave, Coast, OCBC. Landed on OCBC with Miguel, my guy.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah. Me home.

Gert Lisha: ⁓ my man, right? And yeah, so basically went in and I mean, first conversation with Miguel, Miguel was like, yeah, good. think, ⁓ I think you need to open a I'm like, yeah, I think so too. But when I'm ready, like it'll happen organically. ⁓ so yeah, so basically go through a year of, barely being able to afford rent.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah.

Gert Lisha: I like honestly lived on my aunt's couch for like six months and was just like trying to figure it out. Move like a small guest house on Airbnb. I was just fighting ⁓ weird ways to just like make a living, bro. I'm coaching at LCBC doing many privates. I started coaching at TogetherShip. Everything kind of all these opportunities kind of just start coming. I was talking to UC Irvine about potentially coming on board. But the problem was I wasn't able to coach club too. So I was like, I don't really want to go in the college coaching space directly if I could do it with club.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah. ⁓ dude, that's a whole different, that's a whole different pivot.

Gert Lisha: Exactly. So for me, I was like, I want to go into the business space of volleyball. basically fast forward, things go well. I am able to get a at J. Sarah volleyball or J. Sarah high school for a court time. And the school working at, TogetherShip, also moves into a facility. So I had gotten access to courts ⁓ and I was you know what, let's run it.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah.

Gert Lisha: Like, don't know how I'm gonna do this. Like, I'm just gonna do it. ⁓ was crazy. yeah.

Alejandro De Mendoza: So this is when you start, what year is this when you start, so your men's or volleyball academy?

Gert Lisha: This, so, yeah, so think I start, I created the LLC in I believe February or March of 2024. So under a year of having started coaching clubs.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Okay. So yeah, so you're like two years in. yeah, so we're about like now, we hit like two years of the mentor. ⁓ right, awesome. ⁓

Gert Lisha: So I basically started, I have a conversation with Miguel like a month later and I'm like, hey, I think I'm gonna try to run my own camps this summer and try to get a team. I'm like, I might have to have my tail tucked in between my legs and this doesn't work. I come back to you and you're gonna just give me the scraps, but it is what it is. I love you and like, just, gotta go get it. So I do that. Somehow through my camps, like barely like not a lot of people coming, right? It's like a brand new idea, right? It's like, what is this? Like, yeah, like we like your volleyball, but like, can you even run a club? Like, do you know how to register tournaments? Like, do you know how to do it? I'm saying yes. I have no idea. I'm, I'm trying. like, yeah. I was like, what do mean? I've run a company before I could do it for sure. And I have no idea. So I'm like,

Alejandro De Mendoza: Thank Yeah, I had them.

Gert Lisha: Jesus, like whatever we're doing camps. It's looking like I'm going to get about like 10 kids for a 16 seem so I'm super hyped. And then last day I get like four of them decommit and I was like, oh my God, bro, it's done. So whatever the six kids, they committed with me, even with the four kids decommitting, like they come on trial day, I walk in the gym. No one's there because they're all going from other trials. So I thought it's done. After we found out the four D commits because they went to other clubs. I walk in, I walk in with my parents. Most embarrassing thing ever, bro. My parents go empty-jib. Ego on the floor, brother. Terrible. So they start coming in late, right? So I get six kids, right? And in my head, I was like, you know what, bro? These six dudes paid $40 to do a tryout. I literally told them, was like, yo, let's just get a good workout in, man.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Damn, that's tough.

Gert Lisha: I don't know, let's do a good work. Let's get into it like we're here. So that's what I do, right? In my head, it's done. So doing my workout, whatever, come to the end of it, saying bye to the parents and then one of the parents is like, so are we doing this? I was like, what do you mean? She was like, do you still want to have the team with us? I was like, I mean.

Alejandro De Mendoza: you

Gert Lisha: I was like, I didn't even think this was an option, but because the conversation before everyone was like, hey, if we get eight to nine, we're we're committed. So as soon as it dropped under that number, I was like, no way they commit. So whatever we go to a nearby restaurant, they're like, yeah, like we want to we want to do this. And I into my car and I again, common theme with Gert.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Hmm.

Gert Lisha: crying a little bit. I was like, I cannot believe that ⁓ an emotional guy ⁓ just can't believe that this just happened. So that was the inception of mentor volleyball Academy podcast to six ⁓ that in the vision and Going into year. We started the year with 20 kids in two teams. So It has developed from year one to year two

Alejandro De Mendoza: Haha! That's huge. Dude, that's huge growth for a club. Dude, starting out, just like really just, that's absolutely amazing, Like, shows a lot like about what you do and the type of person you are because, know, a of these parents, when it's your kid, they you, ⁓ you and wanna see what you do with your kid and the value I think you bring to them I think is absolutely massive. the word of mouth, it spreads, you know? Like you do it really, and I love the mentality you came into. It's like, only six kids showed up, but it wasn't like, oh, I'm just gonna get up. It's like, you know what? At the trial, you're like, I'm just gonna make sure they still get a good workout. Like the six who are with me, all right, you guys are, my writer dies, like you guys, you guys are gonna have the, I'm gonna give you everything, right? And I think that is the absolute best way to go into it. And again, word of mouth spread. When I first started doing private lessons and I was like 22 and I was trying to build my business, dude, I would do like one or two a week if I was lucky. You know, my parents tell me now, like, oh, I used to like come home and like just be pissed. I'm like, man, I've seen all these other coaches. Do they have these huge clientele bases? They're just absolutely killing it. Man, I'm barely getting like one, maybe two a week. I was just frustrated. like, you know what? And I was like, you know what, these one or two. I'm going to give them everything. Everything I know. I'm going to train them. I'm going to do my best. And then guess what? They had friends. Their parents know people. The reputation starts to get built, right? And like, that's the thing about reputation. You know, like it's not just built overnight. It's brick by brick. You know, whether it's anyone who's trying to get into volleyball, whether it's a club, start training kids privately, like your reputation matters and you got to make sure that you absolutely kill it.

Gert Lisha: Good evening.

Alejandro De Mendoza: with the kids who are in front of you. Don't worry about how big everyone else is. You gotta make sure that you are on point with the people in front of you. That's big number one.

Gert Lisha: Dude, especially in the tough moments, especially in the moments that like you're coaching a kid that you know for sure is not going to play in college. And it's like, you really want to coach these like high level players and like have this huge clientele base, right? Like that's the dream, right? Like everyone's like, Oh, I want to have every option, this, that third. And it's like, I think I love

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah. Everyone does. Dude, honestly, I tell you, honestly, I love training the beginners. do you trust me? I just worked with a kid like last weekend. She's a Washington commit. Like she's good, she's phenomenal volleyball player. It was a lot of fun. Who doesn't love working with like really good volleyball players? But, dude, the beginners, oh my God, dude. Like just teaching them like the basics and fundamentals and to see their growth. Dude, they are. appreciative. The families, ⁓ the, it's amazing. Like ⁓ the level joy it brings me ⁓ getting started in volleyball, teaching them proper technique and ⁓ watching develop and that you, they see themselves improved because let's be honest, a kid beginner ⁓ to okay, like average that's ⁓ as a that's the easy part. That's, that's such an easy jump ⁓ for me a coach that I could easily make. ⁓ It's the to good and good to great. Especially the good to great. If you don't got the height, there's so much intangible as the talent. Hand eye coordination, there's so many things that just outside of my control, it has nothing to do with technique. That's the hard part. from beginner or not great to average, dude, I can do that. But to the kids and the parents, it's like a massive jump. It's this huge thing that they get better. And I love that. I love seeing these kids.

Gert Lisha: Yeah.

Alejandro De Mendoza: you know, see themselves improve. Cause that's so much fun. That's like improving and getting better is, is in, to me, infectious. It's contagious. It's like you, you, you have this, you start to develop the love for the game. Like to me, I love that. I find true joy in watching kids start from, you know, just learning or, or maybe they're not that good to, to improve where they feel like they're consistent. Now they're just a I'll get into that mid tier level. Like those kids, in my opinion, like which honestly is a bigger part of my clientele base. I love watching them improving and grow. Like they, they, feel like they appreciate it more. I feel like their love for the game is so strong and the parents are love it. And that's just my opinion.

Gert Lisha: That's and that's what I think you see as you get put into the industry and of someone that like loves training like me when I was coming into it, it was always like I was just thinking like what's the highest level I could coach in youth, right? That was like what made sense to me in my brain without being in but as you start to get into it, what you're saying is so true. And it's like the beginners in like almost like inspiring, like the love of the game to begin. Like, and you see like the flickers of like, it's like becoming like an obsession and like, it's like getting into their system in a real way. And like you're teaching them like the most basic things that to them is like, ⁓ my God. And like, that is for sure, like something I did not expect to feel. And I feel that so heavily right now. And honestly, like I agree with you. I like coaching young kids, probably the best right now. Like it's so fun. So, so fun. I completely agree.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah, it's really enjoyable, right? Like you're gonna get athletes along the way who are extremely high level, extremely talented, who are tall, jump high. Like those kids are gonna come, you know? Like you're gonna get some of those people. But like the reality is the vast majority isn't part of that group, right? We're talking about the elite, elite group, maybe 5%, 10 % of the population. like, so the reality is for anyone who's getting into coaching is, you probably already know this, not everyone's a part of that. So most of the kids you're gonna be, athletes you're gonna be working with are gonna be around that mid-tier level of athleticism and skills, you know, but honestly, I love being in that area. I love watching them improve. Because personally for me, I think that's where they see the biggest jumps in improvement. And then again, it goes back to that second, once you get a kid to notice that, they're improving and they're getting better, dude, they're gonna get hooked. That's when I got hooked. Like when I started getting better at volleyball as a kid, dude, that's when I really started to get into it and I really started to enjoy playing volleyball because I saw the improvement. I saw that, man, I can get better. Like I'm improved, the work I'm putting in, I can see it on the court when I go to my practices, when I go to tournaments, I can see myself going, and that to me, and watching that joy in these young athletes to me is priceless.

Gert Lisha: 100 % it's like a real live video game. You're like, you're like building, you're building your own 2k player and it's like, and it's like working. Like that's like

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah, pretty much man, you level it up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, man. No, honestly, the video game analogy is, I think, super good. Like, when you are level one, if anyone here knows Playzido again, going to level two doesn't take much. Right? You can be grinding away. You can be grinding, grinding, grinding, know, like World of Warcraft. Like, you're out there just hitting some guys and you kill a couple dudes and guess what? You level up. Right? But that's what I talking about. Like, man, when you're down there and you're just starting out, dude, leveling up's not that hard. Right? If you got like, if you have like some proper training, some good structure, dude, you'll see it quick. But it's like trying to get to level 100. Damn, dude. That, the grind. Like, we're talking about like Olympic athletes. Like, we were both in the USA gym. Like, dude, those girls that we work with, the women's national team, those girls are just grinding.

Gert Lisha: 100%.

Alejandro De Mendoza: just for like a half a percentage bet to get better, right? Because they're so far up the top of like skill development, right? There's still room for them to grow, but the amount of time they need to put in to get maybe half a percent better in one skill set is And that's the difference. Like when you're at the top, top, top, the skill develop, it just, it gets harder and harder.

Gert Lisha: The just the margins start to just like shrink as like you go up up up and then it's like it gets to a point where a very high level volleyball expert I think if you see two players ⁓ a certain level it's essentially impossible to differentiate them until you see them playing alive six on six against each other like if you see like

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah. you

Gert Lisha: I don't know. Let's take like from our national team and you see like Aaron Russell and TJ DeFalco and then Thomas Jeschke and a gym, right? And they're just like hitting balls. I think it's going to be really, really hard to differentiate who's the better player just off of like simple practice and like seeing their mechanics, how hard they all this stuff. It's like, dude, all these guys are unreal. Like there is no more like he can make it all pass set hit every shot in the book. ⁓ competitive. Like the margin is so small that it's like, like you said, they're fighting for a point. They're fighting to flip one ⁓ to a point. Like that's what they're fighting for. ⁓ play. All they're trading. Right. Like that's what it like boils down to. And that's why that's why like Tarch Karaya was so successful with the women's team, man, because that's his mentality. And we saw that firsthand. Every detail matters. Every word he wrote on the board, every word he said, was thought out. And that's what it takes. And that's why they won gold.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah, man. Karch, for those of you who are listening don't know, dude, Karch is a, dude, he's a math scientist. Like, he, he would get in, like, he'd be the first one in, last one out. Like, he'd get there at like seven in the morning, six in the morning, and he would leave at nine. And that guy is a machine. He's a learning machine. And that's what made, and again, but that's how he was as a player too. He was... way his mind works, he's just ⁓ his work ethic is absolutely insane and he put a lot into it. And you know, man, he got some medals out of it. You he got a gold back in the Olympics and ⁓ he able to do that because of just, you know, again, his work ethic and who he was. So ⁓ of back, so your coach philosophy, just the mentorship kind of wanted to touch a bit, a little bit about it. Like, ⁓ you know, mentor.

Gert Lisha: 100%. Yes.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Academy philosophy, know, just reading it up online about like the safe training environment, the individual development, know, life lessons ⁓ beyond volleyball. Can you talk about a little bit about that? what does the safe environment look ⁓ actually look like?

Gert Lisha: Yeah, I think. think that I think when you go into practice gyms, ⁓ that too often ⁓ you go to like, and you're like, ⁓ this coach is like a really strict coach. I think a lot of times ⁓ like connected with it being like a super intense environment and like very like aggressive, maybe like demeaning at times, like Balkan style, right? Of like how I talked about. And for me, I always loved the intensity, but didn't really find much value in like the demeaning of players or like getting mad at making like skill mistakes, like stuff that they aren't trying to do. Like I hate when a coach is like, don't miss your serve. Cause it's like, it's like very, it's like, obviously bro, I don't want to miss my serve. Like, why are you, why are you, it's almost like.

Alejandro De Mendoza: ⁓ dude, don't get me started on that. Don't miss it, sir. Yeah.

Gert Lisha: an inflammatory comment rather than like, yo, let's like, try to get better. Like, what are you thinking about?

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah. I hate. I talk about that all the time with kids and coaches like, dude, don't ever tell a teammate if you're a player or like don't miss your serve, right? It's like the psychology of like, hey, don't think of white elephant. What's the first thing you're going to think of? A freaking white elephant. white elephant. Guess what? When you tell someone like, don't miss your serve, what's the first thing you think? I'm going to miss my serve. Like, dude, it's like psychologically one of the worst things you can do.

Gert Lisha: Yeah, first things white alpha baby.

Alejandro De Mendoza: is tell someone, don't miss your serve. I know I completely agree. Honestly, me personally, when I first started off coaching, I was the yellow. I'll admit it. You know why? Because that's how I was coached. And that's how a lot of these new coaches, when they're first starting out, they coach the way they coach. They were coached, right? Because that's their frame of reference. But I learned pretty quickly, after a year or two, dude, this is exhausting. I can't do this.

Gert Lisha: Yes.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Like I can't be like this kind of level of like just yelling and yelling all the time. And it just didn't fit my, I'm so more, it's more laid back and chill. Like it didn't fit my personality. And I think I highly recommend all coaches to like really find their own style that fits them. Right. And not to just copy someone else just cause they were successful doing it that way. Like you need to find a style that fits you and your personality. And personally, I'm a lot more laid back. ⁓ a lot more cool. Do I get on my players? Sometimes, yeah. But ⁓ think in small doses, I think it's much more effective than just if that's just your normal. Because kids will just tune you out. ⁓ if that's all you do, just yell, yell at them and just negative reinforcement, negative reinforcement, they're just going to tune you out.

Gert Lisha: Thank Yes. is so true and I think what you said about finding yourself is so important. I've definitely gotten so much better at coaching, ⁓ even in this three-year window that been reintroduced into it. You see coaching is successful at some level.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah.

Gert Lisha: So it's not really about like one is better than the other more so than it's like, how can you like find yourself and like create the best environment possible? When I talk about the environment, the way I always like imagined it when I was like creating it was like, how do I create the best training environment for a 14 year old Gert? That was a very simple way of looking at it for me. It was like, I love to get in the gym. So it's like one staple of our club is we're going to be in the gym more than everybody, period. I don't care if, if I can't run the business like this, then we're not going to run it. Like I'm not going to budge. like four practices minimum a week for me was like no discussion. So on top of that, so

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah. ⁓

Gert Lisha: I think that's like one level is like creating the base of like, how much are you in the gym? I think it's like one level then like, what are you doing when you're in the gym? I wanted to create an environment to ⁓ mistakes with And I that is something that people get very weird about where I think if you have the right thought process, I think Making mistakes means nothing. I think your decision making ⁓ that matters. What you thinking about when you're doing said ⁓ action? you're, asking me and we're talking a little bit about like, what is the difference maker between good to great? I think a huge piece ⁓ is decision Cause all those hitters, they can hit line, cross court, sharp, high hands, everything. They could do all the same hits.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah.

Gert Lisha: when you choose to do them and how to execute and when to pull out and when to take risks. That is, I think, the biggest difference maker. So for me and the culture of what I'm trying to create is kids that want to come in the gym a lot, they want to get better. And we don't talk about making skill mistakes rather than making decision mistakes. And decision mistakes are things that you can control way easier. And I think we look at outside volleyball stuff, like coming on time, all that fun, like discipline stuff, that's very important. And then when you get on the court, right, it's like, why did you try to serve at that player? And you made a mistake. That's terrible. That to me is horrible. If are going for the right serve receive player, right, and you miss. Incredible. That's fine because you had the thought process that is correct If you have the thought process that is the whole game and then God will take care of the rest man. Like what like what are you gonna do? You're gonna train the best you can with your ability and you're gonna try to play the game with thought if you play the game with thought you are going to win a lot of points in my opinion regardless of talent so that would be my biggest like

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah, the intention. The intention.

Gert Lisha: philosophy in terms of like what I view as like the safe environment that I'm trying to like create.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Mm. No, absolutely. I love that. What about, you know, how does like, how do you do individual development in like a team sport? Like do you guys approach that as a mentor?

Gert Lisha: So think you break it down kind of like we were talking about with Dan Friend when I was watching film with him as a freshman. And I think you have to break it down into two pieces. It's like, ⁓ one what do my mechanics look like? And I think one-on-one training is really good to ⁓ improve mechanics ⁓ because think simply put, mechanics just make you more efficient in your movement. It doesn't mean If you have bad mechanics, you can't be a good player or good at that skill. It just means you may be a little less efficient. But I've seen passers with like not the best passing form. Maybe like you could look at like Sergio, like the old Brazilian libero. Like I wouldn't say he has like picture picture perfect passing form, but he was the best passer in the world and at some points the best player in the world. So I don't think. So me, it's not.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Nah, Sergey was sick.

Gert Lisha: It's not that it is a necessity, but it is something that will always make you a better player. If you have better mechanics, it'll make you more efficient, in my opinion. So like, for us, like when we think about one-on-one, one-on-one is like an area that I can like really hone in on your setting technique, your to the ball, arm swing, blocking technique, like really like break down the mechanics of how your body's moving. So that's.

Alejandro De Mendoza: in

Gert Lisha: probably the most important. then honestly, in terms of one-on-one is film. And breaking down the film and having players understand volleyball. And know that sounds very simple. Ooh, see.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Mmm.

Gert Lisha: yeah. So, I mean, that's basically the understanding of volleyball is so important. like, for instance, like, what is the most important thing for a setter? Right? Like, I think I got caught in a lot of this BS thought process when I was younger, right? I'm a big setter. So ⁓ all my were always like,

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah. Thank

Gert Lisha: Can I be really aggressive at the service line? Like score points? Can I get a lot of blocks? Can I the middle blocker and like all this stuff? Where it's like, at end of the day, the most important thing from the setting position is your team's hitting percentage. ⁓ you guys are hitting at a high level, you're going to win more games, period. And that ⁓ something that I think is really important to have your focus in the right area.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yes. Bye. Yeah. Yeah.

Gert Lisha: Because if you don't, you're scattered and there's too many things to think about and too hard to get good at everything. And it is really important to understand positionally, what is your team need from you to win games? a big conversation I have with my players and my students at TogetherShip. ⁓ do you need to do in order for your team to win games? ⁓ what do you need to do to become a better volleyball player?

Alejandro De Mendoza: you Thanks for watching! No.

Gert Lisha: If we're in a team scenario, how do you improve the team? Right? That may mean that you're the best out of system hitter on the team. And you may want a lot of in-system play, but that's just not what's effective for the team. And you need to find ways to score and out of system. If you do, we're going to win games. And it doesn't mean to stop developing, but I do think it's really important to understand what your team needs.

Alejandro De Mendoza: you Yeah, here's more.

Gert Lisha: And then how you're gelling with your team just in general. maybe like that's like higher conversation, but like in beginners is like, Hey, setter focus on a good go ball, a good red ball, middle involved. And maybe we start implementing some big, if you feel confident. That's it. And we build from there, you know, like hitters like, man, can you hit a really, really hard ball into the deep angle, into the deep line? You can do these two shots.

Alejandro De Mendoza: No.

Gert Lisha: You're going to be really, really effective. Simple. Like, it's not that complex. If you're in a bad situation, can you put the ball in play? Maybe get the center out of the offense. Can we do these small things at a really high level? And think that's kind of the film piece because you could really break down the perspective of how everything looks. And it's

Alejandro De Mendoza: I'm out. Yeah. ⁓ you you

Gert Lisha: great tool to break down yourself but also like full. So that's kind of how I would break down the one-on-one in terms of the mechanics side and then like how you're like gelling with your team and just in general like the volleyball understanding.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah, absolutely. And then just, because as we're wrapping this up, what's a life lesson, I think, that volleyball teaches better than anything else? What would you say?

Gert Lisha: Dude, I, is, this is like, one of my biggest points, and why I feel so passionately about what I'm trying to build here at Mentor is I think the best lesson of life period. And I don't think there's one thing. I think that if you can take something, right. And I volleyball.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Hmm.

Gert Lisha: So like, that's why I do this, right? If you could take something and teach someone how to learn and how to get better at a fast rate, you can take that skill and you can implement that anywhere in your life. And how you communicate, and this may sound kind of weird, but it's like, I feel like how you communicate with your coaches and your teammates is a direct representation of how you communicate with your friends and family.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah. Yeah, there's a correlation.

Gert Lisha: I the type of work ethic you have and discipline that you have on the volleyball court is directly related to the type of discipline you have when you go home. And I think...

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah, how you do something is how you do everything.

Gert Lisha: And you can see some players maybe that are super talented, but don't have some of those areas that maybe like the discipline side, like the good communication side. And those people usually struggle once they leave the sport. And I think that's more of a hindrance to them as a human than a positive. If you leave the sport and you're not a better human being, it did not serve The whole point. is that you become a better human being. And if you make the Olympics and you make a pro career out of it, that's a cherry on top. And that's an incredible experience. Being in college, athlete D1, one of the coolest experiences in the world. I'm not going to lie. Like, I'm not going to sit here and be like, it's dude, it's so small. Like it doesn't matter. Like I was having this conversation with my cousin that she got offered a spot on Northeastern as a libero. And then she also

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah. Yeah, that's such a small percentage.

Gert Lisha: the same breath got offered into the engineering program at Cal. And I had worked with her one-on-one my whole life and she was like, I think I'm gonna go to Northeastern. I was like, listen, you have to go to Cal because that is gonna be what's best for your life right now. At end of the day, you're not gonna play libero for the rest of your life. And it it served your, she was like, oh my God, you've lied to me. I'm like, the purpose is you get set up and become a better human being and

Alejandro De Mendoza: You ⁓

Gert Lisha: have a better life because volleyball will end or you're going to start a company like me and that's fine. But no one's going to play the rest of their life. It's done. So like the whole point of volleyball, I don't think is one life lesson more so than it is how to be elite at life and how to be an elite human being. And that's how I view it. And that's what I preach. I don't preach that I'm going to make college athletes, pro athletes. I can. I preach I'm going to make

Alejandro De Mendoza: No.

Gert Lisha: high level human beings. That's the whole model.

Alejandro De Mendoza: I love it. I love it. Awesome dude. Whoa, dude. Gert, thank you so much for coming on to my podcast. Dude, where can people find you? How can they contact you? The academy, social media, and are you still doing the podcast?

Gert Lisha: Yes, yes. I'm starting the podcast back up actually next week, funny enough. So this is really funny that this kind of happened. So it's going to be really cool. We've been planning a lot now that Boise season is done. Social media has been a big kind of focus for me. So podcasts will be coming. I'm going be filming in the next few weeks with a few guests. And the volleyball mentor will be the podcast.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Hey! I love it. There we go. Yeah ⁓ Sweet.

Gert Lisha: Mentor volleyball Academy on Instagram. ⁓ You can find anything and then.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Yeah, I'll make sure it's all linked at the bottom of this video.

Gert Lisha: Yeah, so mentor volleyball Academy, the volleyball mentor and then Gert, Leisha are all three areas that ⁓ people can reach out if they ever want website. Pretty easy. yeah, so podcast is to be starting back up we're back in it, baby.

Alejandro De Mendoza: Wow. I love it man dude, thank you so much. So much value with your background, experience and your journey and man dude, good luck and I know you're gonna keep on impacting a lot of these athletes lives.

Gert Lisha: Thank you so much Alejandro and I will say also bro you've been a huge inspiration to me and when I look at other people in the space that are being authentic and I've had this conversation with a few people but when I see that it's people that I look to for inspiration so you're definitely a person that I've looked at and been around and I'm super grateful to have had the chance to talk to you about volleyball bro it's awesome.

Alejandro De Mendoza: We'll sure to. Peace man, appreciate it man. And for everyone else listening, have another guest next week so stay tuned. ⁓ yeah man, keep on going. ⁓ peace. Stop

Gert Lisha: Peace out.