Alyssa has spent much of her life immersed in the volleyball world as a player, a coach, a parent of three high-level volleyball players, and a Club Director. She understands the game from so many vantage points and has great insights into what it takes to be a high performer in sport and life. It has been a pleasure to get to know her over the past year, and we are in alignment with what we want student-athletes to gain from playing sports—especially volleyball. She currently is the Club Director of Nebraska Juniors.

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A standout volleyball player at the University of Nebraska and for Team USA, Kayla Banwarth is a rising star in the coaching ranks and has taken her championship pedigree to Ole Miss, as she was announced as the Rebels’ eighth head coach in program history on Dec. 21, 2019, at the ripe old age of 30!

As a player and assistant coach, she helped guide Nebraska to four conference championships, three Final Four appearances, and a national title. Her illustrious career with Team USA garnered eight medals in international competition, including a bronze at the 2016 Olympic games and a 2014 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship!

Kayla learned to be a master goal-setter in college and that skill served her well over the years. When I think of Kayla, Grit is what comes to mind. I’ve known her since 2009 and she has always demonstrated passion and perseverance in whatever she is trying to accomplish. Kayla displays tremendous insight and wisdom in this podcast, but there is also a vulnerability about her. 

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Maggie has an extensive volleyball background, competing 9 years for Sports Performance Volleyball out of Aurora, IL. At the club level, Maggie won 2 Junior Olympic titles, was a 4-time AAU All-American, and 2-time JO MVP. Maggie went to Michigan State before transferring to the University of Nebraska, leading her team to a National Final in 2005 and being on the 2006 team that won the National Championship. She traveled to Puerto Rico, Switzerland, and the Netherlands to play professionally for two years after college. At the conclusion of her playing career, Maggie has been a volunteer coach at Nebraska, and started a volleyball club called VCN in 2010. Maggie was awarded the 2017 AVCA 30 Under 30 award and is a current Board Member for the JVA, serving on the Executive Committee as Treasurer, as well as Committee chair for the AVCA Club Awards. Maggie is currently the VCNebraska Master Coach for the College Prep program. She also oversees and directs all age groups and programs. Maggie takes us on a journey that celebrates the highs and the lows of being an athlete, and the challenges and opportunities of running her own business. Of course, we get to learn from her how developing a high-performance mindset can help one max out in sport and life.

I'm very excited to have a guest on the Max Out Mindset podcast that I know very well. He is in his 21st season at the University of Nebraska as the women's head volleyball coach. He has an astonishing win/loss record at Nebraska currently 588-81. His teams have won four National Championships and he is a two-time AVCA National Coach of the year. He is also the first one in his family to go to college. Coach Cook is an author of the book, Dream Like a Champion and co-host of his podcast called Conversation with the Cooks. In my book Max Out Mindset I devoted an entire chapter about Coach Cook called The Power of Evolution. I wrote this chapter based on the collaboration with him from 2008 to the present. To this day, I have never been around a coach or leader that has been so committed to evolving in all aspects of life. He shared some new insights on the podcast that even I hadn’t heard before. The final chapter of my book called The Power of Ultimate Trust is based on the mantra of his 2015 team that won a National Championship. Coach Cook and I have the same goal with every team—to get them to a place of Ultimate Trust! Enjoy learning from one of the best to ever coach in the sport of volleyball.

Marcus Zegarowski is currently a Junior on the Men’s basketball team at Creighton University. He is continually working on all aspects of his game, including working on strategies to make his elite mindset even stronger. There are so many nuggets that Marcus shares as we recount his journey from an underrated high school recruit to his current position as one of the best point guards in the country. Last year he showed tremendous growth in his physical and mental game as was rewarded with the following awards:

Named a Second Team All-American by NBC Sports Third Team All-American by Stadium Honorable Mention All-American by the Associated Press.

He also led Creighton with 156 assists (5.0 apg.) was second on the team with 524 points (16.1 ppg.) and 42.4 percent shooting from three-point range. In arguably the biggest games of the year--eight games vs. top-25 teams- he averaged 18.9 points per game while shooting 60.4 percent from the field (58-96) and 51.4 percent from three-point range (18-35).

I love that he shares some very unique strategies(dare I say rapping!) to stay confident and composed in the biggest moments and when it matters the most.

Today on the podcast I had the pleasure to speak with Gazmine GG Mason who I had a chance to work with while she was a student-athlete in college. GG is a 3X Gold medalist and the First African American to win singles and all-events gold medals for the USA. 'GG' was given to Gazmine by her youth coach meaning Got Game. GG is a former University of Nebraska, Lincoln bowling stand-out graduating with a degree in Business Administration and a minor in Informatics.

 GG is also a global ambassador for the sport of bowling and launched Got Game, LLC to assist with her quest! Got Game, LLC was established in 2018 by the athlete, humanitarian, and pioneer, Gazmine 'GG' Mason. 

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It was great to have Lauren on the podcast to share her views on the importance of training mindset for sport and life. She is a former All-American setter for the University of Nebraska and played professionally. 

Coach Jenny Rowland, head coach, University of Florida Women’ gymnastic, has been successful in every stage of her journey from being a member of the US Women's National Team that won a World Championship in Gymnastics to most recently being named National Coach of the Year by the WCGA in 2020.

Her recipe for success: Make the most of every opportunity, surround yourself with high character people, have a growth mindset, build relationships, learn from adversity, and make a commitment to being present. She covered so many interesting themes during our conversation, but my favorite part was her recounting the journey of her 2019 team and what everybody associated with her team learned from that experience to help put them in a position to max out in 2020 when they were undefeated and ranked #2 in the nation when the season abruptly ended due to the effects of COVID-19. As she reflected on the past two years, she brought up University of Virginia Men’s basketball coach Coach Tony Bennett’s quote after they had won the National Championship just one year removed from a heartbreaking end to their prior season, "If you learn to use it right, the adversity, it will buy you a ticket to a place you couldn't have gone any other way.” Coach Rowland felt the same way about the growth of her 2020 team.