Quotes from Karch Kiraly

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

If it were easy, everybody would have a gold medal, but they don't.

I want to accomplish some things on the beach that I haven't been able to before, such as being a part of the best team on the beach in any given summer, racking up the most wins in any given summer.

Part of the lore of the beach is how long some of those matches would last. Scores would hold and it was a battle of wits and endurance.

This country just has a different set of priorities. It's the same thing with soccer as with volleyball. If soccer is going to struggle to have a pro league after the most successful World Cup in history, it's even more of a struggle for other sports.

When I was with the national team, I couldn't even touch my toes.

It was really an exciting time trying to find my way from being a boy to becoming a man—being toe to toe and eye to eye with grown men, even though I was only 11 or 12.

And I really felt like I would regret never accomplishing my goals on the beach, or missing special moments with my kids, more than I would miss winning a third gold medal.

I love being a parent, and when I'm gone even 2 1/2 days for a tournament, I'm forcing Janna to be a single parent.

I'm not at my physical peak, but if I can still beat guys, many of whom were born after I won my first tournament, that's a great accomplishment.

We surprised ourselves in '84 when we thought we could win a major tournament but hadn't yet until we won the gold medal.

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

I can help promote the sport best by competing better, rather than playing poorly and losing out in the tournament early.

If I avoid injury, who knows how long I can go?

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.

There have been a lot of great players through the years who have played at UCLA. I hate to be singled out while other guys are being left out of that kind of group.

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.

One of the things I thought was lost in the move to a smaller court was there were fewer smaller players. Like, you have to have a huge blocker to be able to excel, but that wasn't always the case.

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

We don't like to be forced off our own tour, onto foreign soil, to qualify for our Olympic teams. That's ridiculous.

You have to be even better as a coach than as a player in dropping what happened, good or bad, and moving on to the next one, because there is always a new matchup to prepare for.

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

When I think of those who were the greatest in their respective sports, it was their drive for perfection that made them the best.

Any beach is more attractive than the inside of any stadium in the world.