Explore Quotes by Karch Kiraly

I think if you had asked me in 2004, 'Karch, you're going to be coaching the U.S.A. women's team from 2013 through 2016,' I would have said: 'What are you talking about? You're a little batty right now.'

Sometimes a team can be a little too rested. Then they never really snap out of it.

For us it's better to think of our opponents as idiots. It's easier to play hard against someone you don't like than it is to play against a friend.

Since June of 1981, between school and the national team, I haven't had much time to spend with myself or my family.

The sand is so bright in Clearwater, you can go snow-blind. In fact, Clearwater and Brazil are the only places where I felt like passing out from heat stroke.

It seems like we're getting fewer stops in California every year. It's good because we're exposing the sport to other parts of the country. But it's not like it used to be, when we played for a hearty handshake, slept in vans and traveled up and down the coast from Santa Cruz to San Diego.

It's hard to grow up to be a good man and a good husband and a good father and at least at some level, my dad gave me a great gift to be able to grow up in the volleyball context and know that I was on a good path.

I take a tremendous amount of punishment and abuse every weekend because every team serves at me. So I have to carry the offensive load. I'm hitting the ball all the time.

The regular pro tour focuses on just the very few top players. But it doesn't focus on the other thousands of passionate volleyball players out there.

My mind is ready to go on, but I want to have something left to continue to play this game that I enjoy so much, not just for another year, but for years and years to come, and so for that reason, I have got to stop. It's just taking too much out of me each and every weekend to have every serve come at me, to pass every ball.

I played with my dad until I was 15.

Great passing and setting - I admire that more than the super big guys pounding the ball.

It's harder to improve once you're in your 40s.

It's the quest for perfection that makes athletes great.

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.

The men's game probably has a little more power to it, so the rallies aren't quite as long. Some people prefer that power and other people prefer the somewhat-longer rallies that tend to happen in women's volleyball.

I consider myself lucky that I grew up in a time that there were no video games to keep my attention on indoor activities.

I love to visit any gym or any training site of any coach in any sport.

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.

I could foresee myself having some frustration in trying to help people do what I tried to do on the court and maybe having some challenges in trying to transmit that.

The Latin teams have this idea that they can't beat a good team in the same tournament twice.