U.S. WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM
I was known more as a smart attacker. And I’m not the highest jumper. I know that. So I have to fi nd other ways to be success- ful, and that’s fi nding the weaknesses in other teams and fi nding my role. If we have someone who is a little more physical and can score points, then that means I have to do something better on my end. Maybe it’s that I have to pass a better ball to help make everyone else available so we can run a bet- ter offense and not just rely on one person. Every game is different, so I need to make that evaluation of what aspect of my game I need to bring more of to help the team.”
nything small town – country, corn- fi elds, anything that revolves around the middle of nowhere and that kind of thing – that’s defi nitely Jordan.”
“A
This quote comes from U.S. middle blocker Christa Dietzen. Based on popula- tion alone, if Hooper isn’t the middle of nowhere, it’s defi nitely in the discus- sion. In 2013, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that Hooper had 819 full-time citizens, which explains why Larson-Bur- bach was familiar with each and every face of the 45 students in her graduating class at Hooper’s Logan View High. “When some people graduate from high school, they see people walking across the stage that they’ve never even seen before,” she says. “I knew every- body, and I knew who was in their family,
JORDAN’S LIKES Music
I’m a huge Garth Brooks fan. I like country music. I don’t have a playlist on my phone. I listen to Pandora. Top 100.
Books
“Gone Girl” (by Gillian Flynn) was pretty good. I’m planning to read “Girl on the Train” (by Paula Hawkins). That looks pretty good, too.
Food
Chipotle. And I like pizza a lot, too. Hobby
Just being with family and friends, what- ever that may be. Playing cards or a quiet dinner.
Movies “American Sniper.” I also liked “The Proposal.”
Treats Ice cream. Pink berry frozen yogurt.
40 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at
usavolleyball.org/mag
CHAMPIONSHIP SPIRIT: Jordan Larson-Burbach, upper left, was in the middle of Team USA’s celebratory scrum after the team won its fi rst-ever FIVB World Championship in 2014.
who their sister or brother was, what kind of car they drove. It was a good place to grow up because you had so much support, but I also had big dreams, and I wanted to do every- thing I could to make those dreams happen.” When she played in the 2012 London Olympics, where she started every match and the U.S took the silver medal, there was a viewing party at her high school. A good third of the town showed up, all people she would certainly wave to if she saw them on the street. In Hooper, that’s what you do. “You wave at everyone when you pass by.”
O
ne thing you hear over and over from top-level national team players is that they deal with glitches in their game just like high school and club players, just at a differ- ent level. Larson-Burbach is no exception. At Nebraska, her jump spin serve was
one of her signature skills, but on Team USA, it wasn’t producing the results the coaches were looking for. Last year, fol- lowing the FIVB World Grand Prix, Kiraly fl oated an idea past Larson-Burbach: How about trying the jump fl oat?
Of course she was willing, but the truth is, it was tough to hear her coach say that he wanted her to move away from something she’d always taken such pride in. “I was defi nitely a little hurt at fi rst, I’m not going to lie,” she says. “The jump serve was something that I loved about my game. But jump serving at a higher level is really hard because passers are so good. If you aren’t moving it in the seams or hitting a stronger serve, it’s pretty easy to receive. So I took it as an opportunity to make my game even stronger, and I’ve actually really enjoyed learning it. There are always ways
PHOTO: FIVB
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