Earlier today, I was able to take part in a media session with Woman’s Volleyball head coach Molly Alvey and former Bearcat star and olympic gold medalist volleyball player Jordan Thompson.
Coach Alvey had a lot of amazing things to say about former Bearcats star Jordan Thompson, not just as a volleyball player, but also as a person. This was an amazing opportunity as we learned a lot about the volleyball program and what kind of things are being built within the program.
I spoke to Coach Alvey and talked about her relationship with Jordan. I know when I talked to Jordan ahead of the Toyko Olympics she said she “hit the jackpot” coming here and really praised the coaching staff and everyone at the University.
Here is what Coach Alvey had to say on that.
“Yeah, we try to target the top athletes across the country every year, we really feel like when we get them to campus we are then in a really good spot, our campus is beautiful, its absolutely gorgeous. The academics here are outstanding so, I think once you can educate people and get them to see Cincinnati and what its all about, its easy to sell our product, and the one thing I really hit with Jordan, that we hit with other recruits when you come here we are always going to communicate very freely with you, and we are going to be your family. You’re coming here to compete and we are going to push you, make you a better player, but not only that we are going to make you the best person you can be when you leave here because you know, not just her profession but in her relationships, inner work world, we want her to be the great, just really try to share and be as genuine as we we could be as a staff with her. I think that is what she wanted, you know I truly believe what we were able to give her from that support side, it really helped build her confidence into the player she is today. That’s a great question”
We also talked The transition Jordan made from playing outside hitter to then playing opposite hitter for the national team.
I asked her, “From the volleyball standpoint, how would you say that impacted Jordan’s game, knowing the outsides see the court a lot differently compared to the right side hitters? ”
“That’s another great question, we had talked a lot about this when she came to me,” Jordan said. “Hey, I have a great contract in front of me but its not for the right side, its for the outside. How do you think I should handle that with the national team coach.” Obviously the Olympics have been her goal and I said ” the immediate thought I had was, You go play the outside, because you’re exactly right, you will see the game from a totally different perspective. “You have no choice but to absolutely have ball control as an outside hitter, you have to pass, you have to play defense. Its critical at the right side, they can hide you a little more if needed, you don’t have to be in all the serve receive patterns. So I told Jordan, “I think it’s a no brainer”. So I think you share that with them, this is a part of your journey, now being this is your profession right, you’re no longer a student athlete, this is your profession. That’s a conversation I think you call up the national team coach and say ” hey, this is what is on the line, what do you think.” It was one of the best things she has ever done was to take that job and go play outside. It has elevated her game tremendously. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but there’s a certain rotation where she comes to the front row and is in left front, they used to hide her and shed run the all the way across the back line and come around to hit right side, now she just stays on the outside to hit and just hammers a ball on the outside. It elevated Team USA because she can terminate on the outside, so it gives the team a little more flexibility from the strategic standpoint.”
I talked to Coach Alvey about Jordan’s historic 2019 season. There was one performance that stood out to me, her 50 kill match on her senior day. I asked coach Alvey about that performance knowing she was only 1 of 6 players in NCAA history to record 50 kills on both aspects of men’s and woman’s volleyball. We also talked about her 34 point performance versus China at the Olympics, how happy Alvey was to see Thompson dominating on the biggest stage.
“That was a record on both the men’s and woman’s side correct? I go back and forth and I catch myself saying ” wow that’s really unbelievable, but the other side of me goes is it really, like it is but she just that talented. I think even more I have told her this many times, She can do that no one else can do. You can train your whole life, you can hit the gym harder than anyone else, there’s certain things she can do that other certain athletes cant do, she’s just so naturally gifted. How often or how rare is it, that you find an athlete that gets it, that has the work ethic behind it and commits to it. You know there’s a lot of athletes like that, like the mental side is more impactful than the physical side, and I think that is what makes her special. You know is it surprising for her first Olympics I’m just like “wow, dang that’s pretty good right.” I thinks too, like I believe in her, you know how much more there is to come. She believes in herself and puts in the work for it, I love that question because it puts a great perspective on it.”
I spoke to Coach Alvey on what its been like having someone like Jordan Thompson whose name is being thrown around as one of the best in the world, what its been like having her back on campus the last 2 weeks with the younger girls on the team knowing what is being built for the program.
“It’s super exciting, its amazing and I mean we’ve even had recruits around that you know that are just speechless like ” wow” I mean its just great, even staff members at the University of Cincinnati are blown away, it’s not even just younger people like ” hey let me see that gold medal.” I think its an excitement, but also just so much pride for everyone. Just the feeling of having pride, I think of Cincinnati as a major institution, a major athletics department, I think of us having that real grit. If you are at Cincinnati are successful, you have grit. You know you’re going out and you are working at it, have all the resources that you need. I think when you have the whole department full of people like that, bringing someone like Jordan back is just really prideful, and the work that you put in, the grind that goes into being at Cincinnati. Jordan brings that pride out of everyone.”
