“Don’t let something bad have to happen for you to work harder or for you to appreciate something.”
Alexis Meeks-Rydell, the head coach of women’s volleyball at the University of South Alabama, sits down with us in this episode of the 35,000 feet podcast discussing the key moments of her first season as a coach and her journey to becoming one. Some top travel experiences, and her advice to those wanting to pursue an athletic route at University
In this episode, we discuss:
How this past season went for University of South Alabama Volleyball team (0:21)
How Coach Meeks-Rydell got into coaching (5:12)
Alexis’ favorite travel experience (9:00)
One thing that no one knows about Alexis (13:37)
Alexis’ advice to athletes wanting to play in college (17:35)
Alexis’ next adventure (20:31)
Some Key Moments This Past Season for University of South Alabama’s Volleyball Team
Morgan: Hi guys. Welcome back. It's Morgan. Today I'm sitting down with Coach Alexis from the University of South Alabama. Thanks so much for joining us.
Coach Alexis: Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Morgan: Yes. We're so excited to hear your story and just get to know you and your team better and the recent trips you've been on. So I guess just to start, can you tell us about the highs and lows of your current season?
Coach Alexis: Yeah, so this was actually my first fall at the University of South Alabama. So I think one of the most exciting parts of this past season for my staff and I was just being a part of a new conference. My staff and I, all three of us came from the same Division II conference last season. So we had all been there for multiple years and knew all of the other teams and locations and the systems that they ran. So for us to be a part of a new conference this year and not know anybody, know, like I said, what kind of systems they ran, what towns they were in, what their campuses looked like, I think for us not knowing was fun.
I know that sounds weird, but we were excited for the unknown of what was to come. Spring, last spring in 2019 went super well. We obviously as a new staff changed a lot and the kids that we were blessed with in our first year, I couldn't have asked for better kids that were understanding, worked super hard, wanted to absorb all the information that we were giving them. And we actually ended up going at 20 and 11 this past fall.
Morgan: Wow.
Coach Alexis: That was the best record that South Alabama Volleyball has had since 1989, so 30 years.
Morgan: Wow.
Coach Alexis: Yes. So I wasn't even born then. I probably shouldn't say that, but I wasn't even born then.
Morgan: That's too funny.
Coach Alexis: So had some lows. We started off the season oh and three. I think after having a new staff and them putting so much work in all spring and we're trying to get them to buy into what we're doing, and for them to start oh and three, we were a little concerned as a staff. How are their spirits right now? Are they still trusting the process? Where is this going to go? And the next week at practice, they worked 10 times harder than they had been up til that point. So that was a really good sign and I think that just ended up translating into the rest of our season. I don't necessarily think we had the most talent either. Our kids just worked a lot harder than some of the teams that we played. At the end of the day, that's one of our core values. I think that they saw how much that paid off and it was great. And we're excited for the future of the program.
Morgan: Oh, I love that, that hard work paying off.
Coach Alexis: Yes, absolutely.
Morgan: That's awesome.
Coach Alexis: And you want that for them. You want them to reap the benefits of the work that they put in. They want to know and they want to see that what they're doing is worth it. So we were super proud and excited for them.
Morgan: Oh, I love that. Do you feel like you worked on anything specific in practices that helped that hard work pay off?
Coach Alexis: I'm a super tough coach to play for, just from the fact that I just have a super high expectation and my staff and I, I played at IEPY and was blessed to have won two conference championships there. My other assistant played at the University of West Florida and she won a couple conference championships there. Then my other assistant, he played men's volleyball at Loyola Chicago, and actually won two national championships.
Morgan: Wow.
Coach Alexis: Which he rubs in our face all the time that we let him because ...
Morgan: That's awesome.
Coach Alexis: ... there's nothing better than a national championship. But I think just us three having those experiences, we know what it takes to reach that certain level and we know how hard we had to work to get to that. So we try and get them to understand what that looks like and how hard it is to actually work that hard. So to see them not understand why we did some of the things that we did to then understanding why, I think that was what was the most fun about it.
It wasn't any drills that are out of the ordinary or certain talks that we would have. It was just doing the same thing over and over again until they understood. We call it light bulb moments. We love to see them have the light bulb moments of oh, coach isn't crazy. This has a purpose. You can tell them all day long that it has a purpose, but they have to figure it out for their own. So it's rewarding when they do have that moment and then you can go from there and it takes off on its own.
Alexis Meeks-Rydell’s Journey to Becoming A Coach
Morgan: Oh, that is so true. I love that light bulb moments. Oh, that's awesome. Well, and seeing that the hard work and dedication that you have from your past, even volleyball and as a coach, how did you get to be a coach? What's your story there?
Coach Alexis: Oh, goodness. So I actually started college as an accounting major and realized that I was way too extroverted for that. I couldn't sit behind a desk all day. So I actually went into media communications after that and actually did some work with the NFL Network when I was in college and actually got the opportunity to work in the Superbowl when they came to Indianapolis. That was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. So I thought for sure I was going to be a reporter and work in sports. That was going to be my way to stay connected. And I don't know, something just didn't feel right, right when I was about to graduate and I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. I said, well, I was kind of good at playing volleyball.
Maybe I should see if I'm good at coaching it. Waited till the last minute and luckily got hired as a graduate assistant at Augustana University, which is in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and loved it. I worked for a lady named Ashley Buckley. She's still today, one of my favorite people and one of the best mentors I've ever had. She played at Penn State for Russ Rose.
Morgan: Oh, wow.
Coach Alexis: Yeah. So a lot of what I learned was what she learned from that culture and just so much knowledge built up in one season. I just fell in love with it at that point. So not ever what I expected to be growing up, but now know that everything happens for a reason and my gut instinct was just telling me to try it and I ended up loving it. So here I am, still doing it.
Morgan: Oh, that's awesome. No, they're lucky to have a coach like you that's so passionate and I'm glad that you were able to find the path that led you to coaching.
Coach Alexis: Yeah. Yeah, I was too. I really was. It definitely hasn't been an easy road and I bet that any coach would say that. I think when I first started coaching, I coached a lot like how I played and it took me a lot of years to figure out that that doesn't work. I was a very intense player and all of my teammates that played with me in college would definitely agree with that statement. I'm still an intense coach, but I've learned how to get my kids to operate on their own. We're big believers in being a player-led team and wanting them to have equal contribution to what our success and our program is trying to accomplish. I think I used to run it like a dictatorship. That's the best way I can describe it because I didn't know how else to do it.
I learned very, very quickly that that was not the right way to do it and really started to figure out ways to, I guess, let go of control. I think I really love control, and there are certain ways to control certain aspects and still make the decisions that need to be made, but also give that opportunity to let my assistants and my kids have the same amount of decision-making and control. I still know I'm not anywhere where I want to be, but I have gotten a lot better and I have seen big success out of that. So I hope to continue growing in that area over these next couple of years.
Morgan: No, that's awesome. I feel like it's always the little things even with things we want to work on, whether it be a sport or personality, things like that. It's just those little things. And I can tell that you're just, again, I can tell that passion that you have to be an awesome coach and it's paying off.
Coach Alexis: I really appreciate that.
Coach Alexis Meeks-Rydell’s Favorite Travel Expeditions
Morgan: Yeah, yeah. What's one of your most memorable travel experiences?
Coach Alexis: With volleyball?
Morgan: Yeah, with volleyball and just with life, whichever you feel like sharing with us.
Coach Alexis: Yeah. So I always try and take my teams every year on at least one, I call it "flying trip." I think it's super important that while these kids are playing in college, that they're able to experience more than just where your region is at. We're constantly going to the same places for our conference games. So we always try to take one flying trip a year and probably one of my favorite ones that we've gone on in my time as a head coach is a couple of years ago I took my team at West Alabama to Salt Lake City, Utah. I had never been out there and we actually got to go to the Olympic Park for a day. We did the sledding and the high ropes course up in the mountains. Unfortunately the bobsled was shutdown that day.
Morgan: Oh no. That's the best.
Coach Alexis: Yeah, I know. I know. They were saying that that was the best one, but the sledding was insane. To be able to go down a tube to where the professionals used to ski on and trust that that wasn't going to flip over, that was one of the scariest things I think I've ever done. Yeah, but that was so fun for us to just be out there and to experience where Olympians used to train. When I take them on flying trips too, I always like to leave a couple of days early because I want to take them to places that either the city is known for or cool attractions that they have so that we're able to do something else other than just be stuck in a gym the entire time we're there. So that was probably one of my favorite ones that we've done so far. And then the only time I've ever left the country was this past summer for my honeymoon. We went to Costa Rica and that was ...
Morgan: Oh wow.
Coach Alexis: ... awesome. Yes, and we got to zip line up in the rain forest and absolutely terrifying, but the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. So I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Morgan: Wow.
Coach Alexis: Yeah. So we were actually supposed to go back there this summer for our one year anniversary, but that's probably not going to happen now, which is super sad. But it gives us an excuse to go next year.
Morgan: Oh wow, Costa Rica. I've never been to Costa Rica, but I hear it's beautiful.
Coach Alexis: It really is. Yeah, and the people there were awesome too. That's one of my favorite things. Like I said earlier, obviously I'm an extrovert, so I love meeting new people and being able to experience that part of it. So when we go places, I'm always wanting to connect with people that are either from there or really understand the culture. And getting to know the people in Costa Rica was a really good experience. My husband and I still talk about the people that we met there.
Morgan: Wow.
Coach Alexis: We really wanted to go back to see those people again. How often do you get to say, "Oh, I'm not going back for the beaches or this or that? We want to go back because we want to see Carlos again.”
Morgan: I love that. Got to see Carlos.
Oh, that is so fun. Well, I'm glad you had such good travel experiences with your team and you know, for your honeymoon.
Coach Alexis: Yes. Yeah, and we've been to a lot of places in the United States too, and there's still a lot of things that I want to do. I actually really love history, and so we actually, my family and I, we went to New Orleans not that long ago and we went to the World War II museum. That was awesome. So I like actually doing things like that. I'm secretly deep down inside a history buff a little bit. I remember growing up, my parents took us to either West Virginia or Virginia and back where all the colonial houses were built and we went through a ton of those and just a ton of the old restaurants were there. I will always remember that and that being so cool, and just being able to see how people used to live and how things have changed and progressed throughout the decades is just so cool.
Morgan: Wow. No, I love that. I wish I was more into history. I lived in Gettysburg for a little bit.
A Little Known Fact About Coach Alexis Meeks-Rydell
Morgan: So I'm more interested in it, but see, I think that's awesome that you love that. That actually leads me to a question I wanted to ask you. What's one thing that no one knows about you that you could share with us? It's kind of on the spot.
Coach Alexis: Oh, wow. That's a great question.
Yeah. One thing that nobody knows about me. Well, not a lot of people know that I like history. I bet nobody would guess that about me. I bet nobody would guess that I started out as an accounting major either because ...
.. nobody would ever guess that I would do anything that would require me to keep my mouth shut. My kids get mad at me all the time because when we run camps in the summer, I always make them do fun facts. I always use the same fun fact every single time. It's not even fun. They yell at me for saying it, but I actually almost lost my leg when I was in high school to staph infection, which is really weird. I probably should have come up with something better than this, but I always tell that story because if that would've happened, it would have totally changed my life. I don't think that I would be sitting here talking to you if that would have happened because that was my junior year of high school.
Yeah, I was 72 hours away from losing my leg, my left leg. I went and played college volleyball after that. If that would've happened, I wouldn't have done that, which probably would have not led me to then being a volleyball coach. So it's just weird to think back that one small moment like that, you wonder, okay, I'm here in this position now. If that would've happened, what would my life be like? Because I met my husband in college. So if I wouldn't have went and played volleyball would I've met him. I don't know. Then you just start going back on this, this path of what if my husband yells at me all the time because I play the What If game he's like, "We're not playing the What If game today."
So yeah, I think that's a monumental point in my life that I think put a lot of perspective into especially my athletics career. I think I started taking it a little more seriously after that just because of that aspect. I knew that it was almost taken away from me. So yeah.
Morgan: Made you want to work harder.
Coach Alexis: Yeah, it did. It really did. It really made me take each day that I was given to practice or to run as much as I hated conditioning, I couldn't complain about it anymore because I was still able to.
Morgan: True. It makes you appreciate the little things.
Coach Alexis: Yeah, it really does.
Morgan: Wow. Well, thanks for sharing that.
Coach Alexis: We've talked about this with our kids before, not waiting until something like that happens to make you realize something. Don't let something bad have to happen for you to work harder, for you to appreciate something, because I think a lot of times all of us, we wait until that happens. We're not sitting thinking that every day you get the opportunity to wake up and make an impact and work hard and strive to achieve something until maybe something gets taken away from you. So I think it's important to just remind yourself of that from time and time again. I think that this whole coronavirus situation is maybe making people realize that a little bit.
Morgan: I agree. Yeah.
Coach Alexis: I used to say that I love working from home and now I'm like, "Okay, I don't know why I used to say that. I need to go back to the office."
Morgan: It's true. You're an extrovert. You need to be close to people.
Coach Alexis: I know.
Morgan: What's happening right now though, situations happen and it teaches us a lot. It makes us appreciate things more. So hopefully that can happen.
Coach Alexis: Yeah, absolutely.
Alexis Meeks-Rydell Advice to Future Athletes
Morgan: I guess the next question I wanted to ask you, if you're an athlete wanting to play for a team or university, what would your personal advice be to them?
Coach Alexis: My biggest advice that I always give kids is to make sure when you are practicing, working out, playing in a tournament, playing in a high school game to always work as hard or prepare yourself as if a college coach were to be standing right there. I would be amazed at how, or I am amazed. I don't want to say I would be because I am. I'm amazed at how many kids come to our camps or we go work camps or we're out recruiting and I see kids not giving it their all. Or if a kid does see us watching them, then you see them work just that little bit extra harder on that rep. And I want a kid that's going to work hard all the time, no matter what, because they're either giving that effort or that passion behind it because of the goals that they're trying to achieve for themselves and for their team.
I think a lot of times kids are taking too much time off and picking and choosing I guess when they want to put that effort in. So we're constantly looking for kids that maybe aren't even the best talent-wise, but we can see where that talent is going to take them or where that ceiling is at. But we want that kid because no matter if we're watching that kid, if we're talking to a coach, they're coming to camp, we see them play, they are working just as hard every time I see them. Then that tells us a little bit about that kid's personality and the work ethic and how they're being brought up.
Those are the kids that we want to coach. So I always tell kids half the time, we're not even looking for anything that has to do with skill related. We're looking at what is your personality like and what does that hard work and discipline look like behind the scenes, because that's what I want. What are you going to do when I'm not around?
Morgan: Oh, I love that.
Coach Alexis: Because I think that's where kids are most successful.
Morgan: It's true.
Coach Alexis: I am so interested to see what my team looks like in the fall because all of us coaches right now, we're all in the same boat. Anybody can win this upcoming fall because it is totally going to depend on what our kids are doing right now when we're not around. We can't make them work out. We can't make them watch film. They're not playing as a team, you know? It's going to be interesting to see. That's what I'm talking about. I want to recruit kids that I know if the coronavirus were to happen next year, which oh my gosh, but if it were going to happen next year ...
I purposely recruited this kid because I know that if something like that happened, she's going to work just as hard behind that closed door as if she were if I was standing right in front of her.
Alexis Meeks-Rydell’s Next Adventure
Morgan: Wow. Yeah. That's great advice for anyone to hear. Hard work, just self-motivated, doing that thing for your team, for yourself, whatever motivates you. I love that. Well, what's your next adventure?
Coach Alexis: Next adventure. Gosh, just in life?
Morgan: Yeah, in life or your team, anything.
Coach Alexis: Yeah. My husband and I are thinking about having kids here in the next maybe year or two, and so.
Morgan: Wow.
Coach Alexis: That was the first thing that popped in my head when you said that, because if you're talking about an adventure, I know that is going to be quite the adventure. It scares the crap out of me. I'm not going to lie, but-
Morgan: I'm sure it scares everyone.
Coach Alexis: Yeah. We're pretty excited about that. I think the part that scares me a little bit, and I have so many good mentors and friends that are able to help me through this, is just being a female, and I know that it's super hard for males too, because I've had a lot of male mentors that it's equally as hard for them to be parents. But I want to make sure that I'm able to dedicate as much time as I want to to my career and to my kids. So I think I already stress about that when it's not even here. I just want to make sure that I'm mentally and emotionally prepared for that. I think that I am, so I hope that I'm able to handle that part well. But it's definitely going to be an adventure.
Morgan: No, it will. No, I'm excited for you because one thing is that I've learned from podcasts and from talking to wonderful coaches like yourself, is that balance is key and family, having a family while being a coach is so rewarding. So I'm excited for you guys.
Coach Alexis: I appreciate it. So yeah, we'll see what happens.
Morgan: Well, I'm excited for you.
Coach Alexis: I know my parents and his parents are desperately waiting.
Morgan: For grand babies?
Coach Alexis: Desperately waiting. Yes. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. My husband is an only child.
Morgan: Oh, wow.
Coach Alexis: My mother-in-law is really, really, really, really hoping.
Morgan: I'm excited for you. I'm excited for your next adventures and I've loved getting an insight into your team and just getting to know you better. Thank you so much for what you've shared with us today.
Coach Alexis: Yes. I appreciate you having me. So this was awesome.
University of South Alabama Volleyball
Podcast made in partnership with Acanela Expeditions
Theme Song - I’ll Just Be Me by Gravity Castle