Quotes from Karch Kiraly

Dealing with a newborn baby, a new language and new people can't be easy on anyone.

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.

We'd get right up and go straight to the beach for practice. Afterward, we'd leave on our wringing, dirty clothes and jump in the ocean. Then we'd leave them drying on the beach. That was our laundry break. Then, we'd play all afternoon.

I don't know if it'll happen four years from now or 52 years from now, but our job is to make an Olympic gold medal happen at some point for the history of the U.S. program.

I informed the team three years before the Olympics that I was retiring from indoor. It's not as if I left six months before the Olympics and left them with a gaping hole to fill. I retired in July of '89. The Olympics were July of '92.

Our seasons aren't like most sports, where the climax comes at the end. With us, the Olympics are much more important than anything else.

I absorbed a lot from my dad. He's very disciplined, very productive, and uses his time well. Those are all things you want when you compete.

Strength is the ability to move really heavy objects. Power is the ability to move them faster and faster.

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.

Our objective is always to do something that hasn't been done before, but the opponent has a lot of say over how that works out.

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.

My mind could keep going all day long. You give me a new body, and I could go for another 20 years out here, and do it well.

The Ariake Arena is stunningly beautiful.

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

Each guy on the team had to make a decision about what life style he was going to live down the road. I made the choice to get better and more responsible.

Playing before an enthusiastic crowd is great. It really gets you going.

I really have no long-term goals.

I would love to be playing in Manhattan one more time.

I played a kid's game, I got to do it at the beach, and I was able to support my family. I consider myself incredibly lucky.

Volleyball is not like a formula so we must give players some freedom.