Lindsey Napela Berg: “I always wanted to play here”

Source: Voleybolunsesi.com

First of all, let’s start with a classical question: How did you start volleyball?
I have been playing since I was 7 or 8 years old. Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. Volleyball was a really popular sport there. My father played volleyball and he was a volleyball coach. I just started playing really young and never stopped.

Did you try to emulate your father while you were growing up?
Not really. My sister also played volleyball. He put no pressure on us. It was just something that we really loved to do. He was so supportive and so helpful that we wanted to continue. Bu he never wanted to pressure us into doing it.

Coming from a sports family, you turn out to be a really good volleyball player at the University of Minnesota. You were part of All Big Ten team for three consecutive years. How did that help you before you went on to become a professional volleyball player?
I think every step in my career has helped me and not one more than the other. Even from being young and playing for hours and hours in the gym to then playing in high school, to then going to college, to then going to the national team… Every step in the way has been important and growing. I don’t think that college was one of the biggest steps by any means. It just is what we do America before becoming a successful athlete. I had a great time there but definitely it was not one of my best volleyball years in my life. I grew up to be the volleyball player that I am after college – playing internationally, playing with the best people in the world, playing in Italy for 7 seasons, playing in Olympics in 3 times. This is how I came to be the best volleyball player that I am.

Just out of curiosity, how did you decide to be a setter? Or why did your coach guide you so in that direction? Were you a good leader or did you have some other specific qualities?
Some setters are born with soft hands and I have soft hands. Then I also was short so they kind of made me a setter (laughing). But I wanted to hit. Luckily in Hawaii I played everything when I was young. When I went to college, I was just too small to be at a high level as a hitter. I have been a setter my whole life but I played everything very early on. Obviously at this level, I can’t be a hitter but it helped me to be better overall in the game of volleyball knowing how to do everything. I was able to read the game better. Knowing every position as a setter is a lot easier to lead a team and help a team out.

We know that you hit the ball very well as you were a jump server a few years ago.
Yeah, I miss my jump serve. I really do.

Is it going to come back?
I thought about it because physically I am actually feeling really good right now. One of the reasons I did stop was because in the last years I had really bad knees. I was doing anything I could do to manage them. We also had jump servers on the Olympic team so we didn’t need so many. It was a strategic decision by the coaches. But right now I am feeling physically really good and I thought about bringing it back. It is so much fun for me and it keeps me in the game. I really in my life haven’t float served. This is like a new thing for me for the last 2 years. We’ll see. I would love to bring it back but it is also a strategy. The coaches have to be OK with it and I have to be good at it so we’ll see.

Your jump serve is also famous for bringing the 4th set to the USA against Italy in 2008. It was really valuable.
I think so. I have been doing it for so long that I have a lot of control. It is not necessarily really hard like, say Kim’s serve, but it is effective.

Coming back to how you developed as a volleyball player, you play in the USA professional volleyball league just right after you graduate.
It was about 3 months. It was the first and only season of that league. I was lucky that there was a team in Minnesota so it was a really easy transition. We ended up winning. It was a great experience. Definitely the level was not like here or like in Italy. I really don’t think the States could ever make a league that could compare. I’m really happy that I was a part of that one year that they actually had a league and we won.

Do you think the States can ever make a league like the European leagues? This is a question that I know a lot of the American players get asked but I’m just curious about your opinion.
My opinion is a little different actually because I had such great experiences overseas. Some players don’t have great experiences. Some players don’t get paid. Some players go to the cities that are awful. I’ve always made it a point in my career to not just play for the money but to play for the experience and to play in a city that I know and like. And I’ve done that. I’ve had incredible experiences so I would tell anyone to go to play overseas because it is about getting culture, and getting a different experience in your life. But there are also a lot of girls who want to continue to play in the States and don’t have the opportunity to come here so I think it would be great if we had a league. I don’t know if it would ever become like some of the leagues in Europe. Maybe it’s going to take time. It also requires sponsors who are in love for the game of volleyball in the States, which is a little difficult but you never know. I would love to support it. I would love to help it to make it happen. But if I had a choice, I would love to experience overseas life because it’s been incredible so far for me.

After you play in the USA professional league, then comes your national team debut in the Pan American Cup. You win the Best Setter award in your first tournament. It must have been a great start for you.
I don’t really look at these awards or don’t even remember them. I’ve always stepped on the court to make my team better. These awards at the end really mean nothing. It is how my team does that means everything to me. But I think it was helpful to start my career to prove that I could hang with the best and I guess it gave me a little confidence. But I’ve always been confident with my game and myself. It could only be about proving to other people that I can do it.

Those years starting with the silver at the 2002 World Championships and going to Athens Olympics embraced a great generation of the USA. Some of the key players like Phipps would retire later. But you had an unfortunate loss to Brazil in the quarters which interestingly continued as some sort of a bad luck later in 2008 and 2012. So considering the crucial importance of 2004 Olympics, how was the atmosphere with the team in Athens?
We don’t like to talk about Athens often (laughters). In general it just wasn’t a good Olympics for many reasons. We had a lot of good individual players but we weren’t really a team. A lot of people say that but we don’t like to talk about it and I don’t like to dwell on the past. It was an experience I learned a lot from. In general going to Athens was a great experience. How many people get to go to the Olympics? If I keep looking at it as a negative thing like “Oh we lost to Brazil. Oh, we lost to Brazil. Oh, we lost to Brazil”, then I’m going nowhere in life. It’s more like “Oh, I went to the Olympics. Oh, I got silvers in Olympics.” How many people do that? You can’t look at it like you always lost to Brazil. It’s not like that. We dedicated our whole lives to train everyday and make incredible accomplishments that weren’t even there so everybody likes to criticize. It’s easy to criticize. But how do you go to training everyday and be positive? That’s what I try to do.

After Athens, for the next quad, Lang Ping comes in. Robyn went on and off in the national team during those four years. I know you care about the team more and put the team as your first priority but you were a starting setter in most of the games and you were taking more responsibility. How was the period that led you to Beijing?
It was often ups and downs. Half of the team was so used to having Toshi (Yoshida) as our coach and anytime that you change a coach, there is going to be some transitional periods. We started out really slow and even though we went to the Olympics, we were not the favorites. We kind of pulled together and played together as a team at that Olympics and got silver, which nobody thought we were going to do. I don’t even know if we thought we were going to do it. That was another incredible experience as a whole. Jenny Lang Ping is an incredible person. Fortunately, I got to see her here some time ago. Just like I said, every step is a different experience. What you take from it, what you learn from it and what you capture will really determine how you feel about it. Luckily I always had the mentality to find the best in things. Everybody is going to have difficulties. You are never going to be the best if you are not dealing with difficulties. So that was a great quad. At the end we came up with something that nobody expected.

Do you think you were more of a team compared to the previous quad?
Yeah. Everybody has their own opinions but the feeling that I had was like a lot more people got to contribute. Jenny really used the bench and really used anybody she could to win a match. But I think Toshi had his group he really believed and wanted, and not many of us got the chance on the bench even if the team was doing bad. But Jenny had a way of utilizing a team.

Were you upset that Jenny Lang Ping left? Not because that Hugh McCutcheon came on, but just because Jenny Lang Ping left?
No, I can’t blame any coach for leaving. That job is just really hard. To do more than 4 years is so difficult for a person if they have a family. We go away for a month long at times. It is really stressful and I don’t blame any coach for not continuing really (laughter). I think it was expected because we change the coach every quad. So I wasn’t sad or happy but I just don’t blame her (laughter).

Then Hugh McCutcheon came just right after he won the gold medal with men’s team. There were a lot of expectations from the USA. Compared to 2005 and 2006, 2009 and 2010 were much more successful by just looking at the results to say the least.
Yeah, but definitely I think we also had more talent as well. Some of the younger girls that came during 2009 and 2010 were a lot stronger than our previous quad as well. But Hugh, as well, changed our system again. 2009 was a struggle as well. It takes time to adapt.

You were also on and off throughout that period because of your injury.
Yeah, I had surgery on my knees after Beijing. I took the whole summer of 2009. I was in the gym throughout the whole summer but I just played in the last tournament. I loved what Hugh was changing. I love fast offense. We really started to run a fast offense. He really started to bring men’s game to our game. He was treating more like humans. We had our lives in gym where we worked really hard but then we went our home and we had our own life. It was really refreshing because every day we came back reenergized. Living in California was a lot easier than living in Colorado Springs because we felt like we were living in a dorm all together all the time in Colorado, which can get tiring for a bunch of girls (laughter). So lots changed before the last Olympics and they were good changes. I truly believe we are still the best in the world even though we lost the gold medal match. I believe that if we would have played the next day, we would have won. In sports, things happen. Brazil almost didn’t even make it to the quarter finals. That night, they fought. They had a great match against the Russian. They came to our match with a lot of emotions. We hadn’t been challenged – the whole Olympics. To not have that experience especially with some of the younger girls and to not have to dig deep before came out to our disadvantage. I have no regrets. I feel like we were the best of the world for at least a good two years. It was an incredible feeling. We worked really hard. Who doesn’t want a gold medal? But it was a really positive quad overall and we did everything.

The USA was really successful at the Grand Prix throughout that quad but fans were upset for the USA running just short of a medal at the 2010 Worlds Championship and getting a silver medal at the 2011 World Cup. We know that you don’t take losses like that and it is not right to evaluate the whole tournament through a loss. But still what is your take on those two major tournaments?
I try not to read blogs or forums because I struggled a lot in my past people writing really bad things about me. I had to stop reading it. It was so bad and so hurtful. But yeah I, as a competitor, was pissed off that we handed Italy the championship when we beat them pretty easily at the World Cup. But looking at the bigger picture, we had qualified for the Olympics. That was our main goal. But yeah, I feel like we couldn’t come in to that big match at the World Cup and win that. And we couldn’t come in to our gold medal match (at the Olympics) and win that getting through some adversity.

You are definitely one of the greatest teams ever because your teamwork is what you are mostly praised for. Not a lot of teams have that. I think your mentality of staying positive and seeing the bigger picture may have also helped the team.
For sure, yes. We had a lot of experience in the team. This team was a mix with half experience and half young people. It was a great mix. I still think to go back to play with this team.

Yeah, that was my next question.
They are great girls. These girls are amazingly talented and play amazing volleyball. We are doing a system that I really enjoy. Now Karch (Kiraly) is the coach who is absolutely amazing. Now in my mind I am going around. I am not going to make that decision yet. But it isn’t a definite “No”. I’ve told that to Karch as well. For sure, I am taking this summer off. He is fine with that. I’ve also asked him “if I wanted to come back to earn my position would that door be open for me?” He said “Yes”. So that’s all I needed to hear. He knows I need to take care of my body. It has been so long since I took a summer off. I did say in London I was done. I can’t say that anymore. There’s a possibility.

I’ve seen some of the sad Twitter comments after you had said that you would be done after London. You seem to have that impact on people that they really feel sad to see you go – likewise in Italy.
Only on people that like me (laughter). I do have some people that don’t appreciate my game but everybody’s going to have that. When you are in the spotlight, there will be people that love you and hate you. You can’t get away from that. But I couldn’t have been more fortunate for the people who have been supportive for me. I really feel it. That’s why I try to talk to the fans. I try to be as involved as I can. I try to help the sport grow. In Italy, they treated me incredibly. I had a great time. They treated me as one of their own. I grew up in Italy really. I feel the same way here. I had a great month or so here. I feel like I have been here longer. I am really happy I decided to come.

We may return to your up-to-now Fenerbahçe time later but just this one question: You said that some people did not always make the greatest comments about you. But all we hear overall from the players during post-match interviews or read elsewhere about people’s comments is how much you contributed to this team.
That’s amazing because that’s all I wanted to do. I knew it was a difficult situation coming in. In my position, coming half season is difficult. I am the center of the team and you have to connect with everybody. Also I knew they had two setters. I never want to come in and take someone’s position like that. I really care about people knowing how hard everyone has been working. It didn’t make it necessarily easy coming into this situation. At the end of the day, it was my choice to come but it was their choice to give me the contract. I was so thankful. I always wanted to play here. To hear that from what you have heard and read is great to hear because all I wanted to do was to come and make a difference in any way I could.

Especially in post-match interviews, your teammates mention it when they are asked about your mid season arrival to the team.
I don’t understand the language (laughing). In Italy, in my last 5-6 years I understood the language. It’s different when you understand everything that is going on. This is kind of my first time being in the middle and not understanding what is exactly going on around but I really love this team. My teammates are great. I really enjoy getting to know new people. That’s always one of the highlights of my life. I know that when I meet new people, they will be my friends for life. I really like this team. They have been great welcoming me here, especially in a difficult situation.

If we go back to how you transferred to Italy just after Athens, Pesaro was a great team and Italy, at the time, without a doubt was the best league in Europe. Of course, it must not be really hard to come to play in one of the best teams of Europe but how did you make that decision?
To tell you the truth, like I said, Athens was really tough. I actually considered not playing anymore.

For good, really?
Yeah. I stayed in Colorado Springs for two straight years before Athens training. We were training for 9 hours a day. It was just not fun. To come off the disappointment of Athens not doing as well as we hoped we would do and me not getting to play hardly a lot, I didn’t know where I wanted to go in life. Then I got this offer. I thought to myself: “Lindsey, you can either get your love back for volleyball or you can stop playing”. I went there and completely gained my love for volleyball back.

I didn’t know that, honestly.
How many people do? (laughing)

But then there comes three amazing seasons playing with international star players against the best players and best teams of the world. You also play against some Turkish teams in that period. I know that it is just the start of amazing years in Italy but how was the experience in Pesaro for three years?
It was so amazing. There are so many memories as I look back and laugh. I didn’t know how to speak the language like here. Luckily I had a teammate, who is also one of my best friends to this day and with whom I only played for one year in my first season there, saved my life.

Can we ask who she is?
Valeria Rosso. She helped me with everything from going to the grocery store to teaching how to drive a stick shift. Overall, it was ups and downs there since it is hard to be away from home for so long. Luckily, my family visits me. But I had to grow up, to learn how to be happy and to experience it. So I chose just to embrace the people, the culture and the volleyball. I didn’t stay home often. Instead, I went for walk in the streets. Sometimes you see American players, especially American basketball players, staying home. They go and do their job and go back to their house. But I like to go and experience everything out there because there is so much out there. Pesaro was also great to me. It was a great place to start my career. I loved it.

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