COVER
on skills for an extra hour – 30 minutes before practice, 30 minutes after. Two years later, he was the youngest
player on the U.S. Olympic team in London. That year and the year after he was the team’s MVP.
less than 48 hours after he’d had surgery to treat kidney cancer.
A GIVE HIM A HAND: Matt Anderson knows how to deal with a triple block. (Photo: FIVB) “But it wasn’t necessarily about the
money. It was about the experience I was go- ing to get. At that point, I was really getting the itch to play professionally and see what I could do. I don’t regret it. It ultimately made me the player that I am. It gave me more experience and more mental toughness.” That toughness has been important. His
volleyball career hasn’t been without signifi - cant challenges. One of the fi rst was simply improving as
a passer. It wasn’t that he was a bad passer, but to make an impact at the pro level and on the national team, he knew he had to be great. So he would get to the gym 30 minutes before practice and take rep after rep after rep. “I would really hammer home the idea of
‘arms straight and out and reducing move- ments to become more effi cient,’” he says. “You want to get to a point where you don’t even think about the angles you’re making – you just do it. You tell yourself, ‘Arms out,’ and your body takes over. “At this level, I don’t believe in luck.
When people say, ‘That’s a lucky pass…’ No, it’s not. It’s because you worked so hard during the countless hours you were in the gym that allows your body to make that pass. You’re just in a fl ow.”
mances with the U.S. team in FIVB World League, he got slammed with a severe case of pneumonia that didn’t respond to antibiot- ics and landed him in the hospital. When he fi nally returned to the gym, he was 30 pounds lighter and not the same player. Even a year later, after his weight and
A
strength were back to normal, his game wasn’t. “That was probably my toughest year on the national team,” Anderson says. “I just
42 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at
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nother test for Anderson came in 2009. Coming off a string of solid perfor-
didn’t play well. I thought I was back, but I wasn’t. My mind was telling me, ‘You’re back to your normal weight, you’re jump- ing just as well, you’re hitting the ball just as hard.’ But the way I was hitting the ball and the way I was moving on the court wasn’t 100 percent effi cient and wasn’t the way it had been before.” Again, extra work made the difference.
This time he logged reps while playing professionally in the south of Italy. The team practiced fi ve days a week, and four of those days he was there working
“I think it was just a little too much stress on his heart,” Matt says. “He was 56. It was tough for me. I was playing in Korea, and I got a phone call from my brother about it. I went right to the coach and said, ‘My father passed away. I need to go home.’ And they were great. I was home for three weeks, helping with all the arrangements and, after the funeral, helping my mom. But my mom wanted me to go back to Korea. I went back, but a couple of weeks later, they paid me the rest of my contract and said, ‘Please go home.’ I’m grateful for that. I’ll never have a bad thing to say about the Korean league. That speaks volumes about their culture.” Of course, Anderson misses his dad,
and one of the things he misses most are the unasked questions. “It isn’t even big stuff,” he says. “It’s the
MATT’S LIKES MUSIC — I grew up on country western and classic rock. My dad was a big fan of Blood,
little stuff. Like, ‘Dad, I’m going to change the oil in my car for the fi rst time; what kind
Sweat and Tears, Chicago, Led Zeppelin and The Doors. My dad had a great collection of really good vinyl, and my mom did, too. Now, I’m more into the DVM scene. I’m more of a Deep House kind of guy. I like modern-day jazz. I listen to Dead Mouse and Cascade. But I still listen to Blood, Sweat and Tears and Chicago.
BOOKS — I just read The Art of Racing in the Rain (by Garth Stein). I love it because we’ve
always had dogs in our family, and it’s told from the perspective of the dog. It’s a sad story, ultimately, but it’s a great book. Another one is Jonathan Livingston Seagull (by Richard Bach). Really good book. It’s cool because it’s a short book and you can read it multiple times and get a different outlook every time. I’m up to my fi fth time reading it.
FOOD — Italian. When I played in Italy, the food was incredible. It’s about exploring the dif-
ferent fl avors out there. I like how the culture is centered around inviting some people to have a meal and having a conversation. It’s a social event.
HOBBY — I like cars. I have a ’67 Mustang – it was my dad’s car when he was in college. I
have a 2004 BMW M3 and I also have a heavily modifi ed BMW 335. I’m in the process of trying sell it so I can get an Audi S8.
MOVIES — I don’t like too many of the newer movies. I just think they’re all kind of the
same thing – loud noises and bright colors. I like older movies. Shawshank Redemption is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. True Romance, one of Quentin Tarantino’s fi rst movies, is great. Casablanca – one of the best love stories of all time. I think the values in those movies come out pretty heavily.
TREATS — Everything, but my favorite is a really good vanilla ice cream.
nderson’s father, Michael Anderson, died in 2010 of a heart attack. It happened
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