Karch Kiraly
I absorbed a lot from my dad. He's very disciplined, very productive, and uses his time well. Those are all things you want when you compete.Collection: Dad
When I think of those who were the greatest in their respective sports, it was their drive for perfection that made them the best.Collection: Sports
You have to be even better as a coach than as a player in dropping what happened, good or bad, and moving on to the next one, because there is always a new matchup to prepare for.Collection: Moving
It's more challenging on the beach. And there's a totally different atmosphere. There's not nearly so much protocol as indoors. It's not so strait-laced.
Strength is the ability to move really heavy objects. Power is the ability to move them faster and faster.
People think of beach volleyball as something you just play and have fun. They don't realize there's a lot of discipline involved in playing at this level.
In many parts of this country, there is still a stigma about volleyball, that it is a sissy game, the one to go out for if you can't win a letter in anything else. People don't realize what a difference there is between the picnic game and the top level.
Any beach is more attractive than the inside of any stadium in the world.
What better way to make a living than going to the beach?
This country just has a different set of priorities. It's the same thing with soccer as with volleyball. If soccer is going to struggle to have a pro league after the most successful World Cup in history, it's even more of a struggle for other sports.
I certainly think it's ironic that beach volleyball was first played in the 1930s in Santa Monica and tournaments of a high caliber have been happening in this country since the 1940s, and the FIVB, for many years, has ignored beach volleyball.
I informed the team three years before the Olympics that I was retiring from indoor. It's not as if I left six months before the Olympics and left them with a gaping hole to fill. I retired in July of '89. The Olympics were July of '92.
Our big hope is to get to the Olympics and win the first beach volleyball gold medal - if we can make it.
I love beating guys who are younger than me.
If I avoid injury, who knows how long I can go?
Somehow after a few vodkas, the language barrier always seems to disappear.
I have a hunger to grow and to learn, so coaching is a natural extension of a lifelong love of the game of volleyball.
The United States has a superb cadre of coaches, some of the best minds of volleyball ever, and I aspire to join that group.
As a player competes less, I would imagine doing promotional work becomes a higher priority.
I guess I feel that competing well and signing all the autographs and just being available to the fans every weekend is the way I can best promote the sport.
I can help promote the sport best by competing better, rather than playing poorly and losing out in the tournament early.
There will always be people who think volleyball, at least for boys anyway, is a sport you play when you can't letter in anything else.
I want to accomplish some things on the beach that I haven't been able to before, such as being a part of the best team on the beach in any given summer, racking up the most wins in any given summer.
When I started playing on the beach there was nothing, no prize money at all. I didn't expect there to be any, and I didn't even dream there would ever be money.
I don't think beyond tomorrow or the next day.
I really have no long-term goals.
I do not wish to be mobbed by people everywhere I go.
I'm very happy being able to travel freely and go anywhere I want to.
Once the ball goes up, nobody's paying attention to what we're wearing.
I've heard every pronunciation ever, but the worst was when I was in New York for a radio show at some restaurant. On the door it said, 'Now appearing: Kard Kiard.'
We'd get right up and go straight to the beach for practice. Afterward, we'd leave on our wringing, dirty clothes and jump in the ocean. Then we'd leave them drying on the beach. That was our laundry break. Then, we'd play all afternoon.
I never played on a court or in an actual game until I was 9.
It's nice at the beach. You don't have to wear a shirt.
I got to play so much more than I ever thought I would.
Al was already a legend when I got to campus. You wanted to play for the best? You went to UCLA to play for Al Scates.
Chicago is one of my favorite cities because it has great sand, weather and an enthusiastic crowd.
Our seasons aren't like most sports, where the climax comes at the end. With us, the Olympics are much more important than anything else.
We surprised ourselves in '84 when we thought we could win a major tournament but hadn't yet until we won the gold medal.
We don't like to be forced off our own tour, onto foreign soil, to qualify for our Olympic teams. That's ridiculous.
The actual work of reviewing, teaching and learning is human to human.
It's natural to have butterflies, sweaty palms... that's a good sign you're prepared for battle, prepared to take on something difficult.
The Ariake Arena is stunningly beautiful.
All partnerships are doomed to die. Almost no partnership ever ended with neutrality and both people retiring at the same time.
It feels awesome to be back in the winners' circle.
It's the quest for perfection that makes athletes great.
If it were easy, everybody would have a gold medal, but they don't.
I don't know when pink is going to come back in style.
Here I am, 11 years old, and these grown men have to give it everything they have to beat me. In one part of my life, I was standing toe-to-toe with grown men. It was a great feeling. My dad gave me that gift and volleyball gave me that gift.
And I really felt like I would regret never accomplishing my goals on the beach, or missing special moments with my kids, more than I would miss winning a third gold medal.
When three-quarters of the tournaments were being held in parking lots and other artificial locations, that was a growing frustration for me as someone who grew up playing beach volleyball and idolizing the guys who came before me and knowing the history of the sport.