Buddy Buck Show

Buddy Buck (00:00)
Welcome back to another episode of community connect right here on Duvall TV. Today I have a Violet Bryant from Cedarcrest high school. She's going to be our guest today, joining us. And remember this is real people, real conversations right here in Duvall, Washington. All right. So we are here with violet. she plays a couple of sports, but one of them specifically is girls flag football, which

I was immediately interested in. so Violet, number one in Kinko 2A, number three in districts, and you have a big weekend coming up, is this right?

Violet Bryant (00:32)
Yes, we have our state quarterfinals coming up this weekend on Saturday after qualifying.

Buddy Buck (00:37)
Nice. Congrats. That's fricking rad. Was that pretty fun to get that moment where you're like, oh my God, we're going to state, know, because you're a senior,

Violet Bryant (00:39)
Thank you.

actually a junior.

Buddy Buck (00:46)
sweet. you're going to run this thing back. People need to look out. OK, got it. That's that's that's scary for everybody else. But yeah, so tell us like what that was like when you got advanced to state. How did that feel?

Violet Bryant (00:48)
Yeah.

Yeah, so on Friday we had two home games playing on our own turf was very exciting. We had a great win against Nathan Hale. It was very uplifting. And then our second game was super close. We almost had a tying touchdown and then we ended up losing 21 to 14, but we had the chance to play again in the losing bracket on Saturday and we won that match to Evergreen. And now we're playing our state quarterfinal on Saturday.

Buddy Buck (01:12)
Mmm.

That's awesome, very cool. Well, before we dive into a few more questions and get to know you a little bit better, I have one to kind of kick it off the top. what is, you probably didn't prepare for this one because you would never know that I'm gonna ask this, but what is your favorite smell, Violet?

Violet Bryant (01:35)
⁓ this might be a weird answer, but my favorite smell is like cleaning products or like bleach or sort of like the smell of fresh laundry. I don't know something about like the smell of fresh linen or like just like cleanliness is really appealing to me.

Buddy Buck (01:41)
Thank

Okay, and does that like stem from something? Is there like a history to that or some like core memory from like childhood or I mean, you answered that pretty quick. I gotta be honest.

Violet Bryant (01:59)
No, I don't think so. think I just personally I'm kind of a clean freak so cleaning my room a lot you sort of get used to it and eventually you kind of have to like it.

Buddy Buck (02:08)
my gosh,

that's awesome. I love it. Thanks for that. All right, cool. let's, ⁓ how did you first get into flag football and then like, what made you want to like try it in the first place?

Violet Bryant (02:11)
Yeah.

⁓ Well, Cedarcrest first year playing flag football was actually last year when I was a sophomore and it was a new sport. Everybody was new to it and we hold interest meetings for new sports or just sports in general that happen during school hours and I actually just went because some of my friends were interested in playing and I just thought I would tag along and then our coach, Kappie Ayers, did like a brief explanation introduction to the sport and then I was immediately intrigued and was like

wow, this is something I really want to do. And after the first couple open fields, first couple of practices, I knew that it was something I wanted to pursue. And after trials went well, I was on the varsity team and it was just amazing.

Buddy Buck (02:57)
Well, that's so cool. I love that. Just happy accident. think, ⁓ happy accident for you and for Cedarcrest Like they're like, sweet, you know, that's, that's a big win. I know. Cause I played quarterback in high school and definitely having a, you know, a target. Cause you play wide receiver, right? That's what I was talking to coach Kappie and yeah, you get all the catch, all the tuddies So that's good. so what do you, what do you love most about playing flag football now that you've, you know, you're almost through two full seasons. What's your favorite part about it?

Violet Bryant (03:00)
Yeah.

cool.

Yes. Yes.

I think my favorite part about flag football is I would have to say first my team. My team and my coaches and all the people I play with because it's such a new sport, know, nobody really knows what they're doing. So you sort of get to learn like alongside your friends and just it's new for everybody. So everybody's having a good time and learning from each other.

And also as a wide receiver, just the feeling of like scoring a touchdown or running a good route was something new to me because I've always been like a defensive player my whole life. So to play a new sport and ⁓ be actually scoring was new for me and it's a great feeling.

Buddy Buck (04:01)
Nice, very cool. for those watching at home or wherever they might be watching YouTube, wherever, but for those people that don't know what is a wide receiver, right? So let's just take a little sidestep there and just tell those people that maybe they like sports, maybe they don't football kind of, know, they know the Seahawks, you know what I mean? But what does a wide receiver do? What is your role on any given play?

Violet Bryant (04:13)
Yeah.

⁓ So with flag football, which is different than regular football, there's four receivers. There's two slot receivers that are closer to the center back and the quarterback, which is actually where I play. And then the two wider receivers are on the outsides. And the wider receivers and the slot receivers typically run the same route as their sort of mirrored other receiver on the other side. And it's usually one sort of pair will distract.

⁓ the opposing defense so that the other pairs can like get open in their routes. So one will run a shorter route and the other will want to run a longer route or vice versa to get those zones open so that the designated player can receive the ball.

Buddy Buck (04:59)
That's cool. No, very helpful because I know sometimes, you know, we'll just talk about stuff being, you know, athletes and be like, wait a minute. They might not know exactly what that means. You know what I mean? So ⁓ and for those that really want the connection, she's basically Cedarcrest version of JSN, right? Jaxson Smith-Njigba right? That's that's what I heard. That's what I heard anyways about. So, OK, so let's talk a little bit about ⁓ Coach Kappie.

Violet Bryant (05:01)
Yeah.

Cheers, cheers.

Hahaha

Thank you!

Buddy Buck (05:24)
So your coach brought the program here and it's just been like again, like you said new last year. So what is that? Like what is what is the culture like? You know what I mean from really from coach Kappie Ayers down, you know with your teammates and what makes this year's team so special.

Violet Bryant (05:38)
Something really special about our team is that we all are sort of on the same page with our values. So each and every practice, each and every game, we all show up for each other. We show up for our coaches and we play every play, every flag pull with purpose. And something that Kappie's done really great is like facilitating sort of like that sisterhood or ⁓ that team bonding that we all have. think the like the reason that we're going to state isn't because like

Each one of us are really good. It's because we're really good as a team and we all work together and we all just improve constantly.

Buddy Buck (06:10)
love that. Yeah, just that you can just trust what the other person's doing next to you and vice versa. Right? That's, that's such a big thing. So for other girls like watching, you know, maybe whatever age they might be thinking like, my gosh, like, because you know, it's like when you're a little head and you're looking up to the group ahead of you and the group ahead of them, it just kind of the nature of it, right? I remember like being in junior high watching the high school basketball guys and it's just like, ⁓ my gosh, they're amazing. You know what mean?

Violet Bryant (06:14)
Yeah, exactly.

Blech.

Yeah.

Buddy Buck (06:36)
So

what would your message be to the girls coming up? Like, hey, should I play? Maybe they're thinking about it. You know what I mean? Like, but maybe they're scared or like, I don't know, I've never done this before. Like, what would your message be to that next kind of wave of girls coming in?

Violet Bryant (06:45)
Yeah.

I think honestly just try it and experiment. Like when I was a kid, I did like countless sports and eventually a few just stuck. And along the way you might find others, but if you think something sounds exciting or something sounds achievable, just go for it. You don't really have anything to lose and you could find a new family or a new hobby to pursue.

Buddy Buck (07:07)
Yep. Okay, so you mentioned the word family. And for those that don't play sports, tell me, you know what mean? Because people hear the word family and they think of it very like traditional, like, know, my parents, my brothers, my sisters. But when you say family in the sports mindset of you, Violet, like what does that mean to you?

Violet Bryant (07:16)
Yeah.

To me, would say my sports family is my team and my coaches. We sort of fight sometimes, like a family does, or bicker on a certain aspect of flag football, but we're a family and we love each other. And like you said, that feeling of trust, we'll always have. And you become really comfortable with your teammates and your coaches.

Buddy Buck (07:37)
Okay.

Violet Bryant (07:43)
They become really important people in your life, like your role model or your mentor or just your peer, like someone you want to become more like.

Buddy Buck (07:51)
Yeah, no, that's really cool. Thanks for that. So when you started playing, so you started last year, right? You mentioned that I would say from last year or this year, like what surprised you the most? Like once you actually started playing, what's that one thing that you were totally caught off guard? Like, my gosh, like I didn't even expect this to happen because I was playing flag or some experience. What surprised you?

Violet Bryant (07:53)
Yeah.

Yes.

say two things for that one honestly that I was enjoying it as much as I did because until last year like I had never even watched a football game like real football I wasn't like a Seahawks fan I wasn't you know on my couch every Sunday watching the NFL I'd never been to a game but just the thought of sort of playing a sport I never played before and

Just like, I didn't even know that girls could play football. So just the thought of that was really appealing to me. And then, yeah. And then this year, I would also say something that surprised me was how much I was learning even after the experience of a year. So like for some girls that are younger teammates, like the sophomores and the freshmen, you know, they're playing for the first time because they didn't play last year. But I think I was learning just as much as maybe even more than them, you know, with our second year not being our...

debut. So yeah.

Buddy Buck (09:06)
Nice, that totally makes sense. So you mentioned something there. So what skills would you say, or can you like, you know, share with people? a skill you might have learned in flag, flag specifically, we'll talk about a second sport in a second, but flag specifically, what, kind of carried over to your everyday life or like school? Like what skills do you learn on the field that you can apply in your day to day life?

Violet Bryant (09:28)
Yeah, I would say definitely commitment. You know, showing up to practice every single day and really trying your hardest for you and your teammates definitely sort of comes up in my everyday life. Also responsibility. You have a responsibility to perform for your team in whatever position you're playing, whether that's pulling someone's flag or catching the touchdown. You're responsible for your actions and your place.

Buddy Buck (09:55)
Yeah, I got you. Speaking of catching touchdowns, this the number is the number 11? For Violet Bryant, how many tuddies did you how many touchdowns did you have this year?

Violet Bryant (09:59)
Yeah

This season, I'm not sure. Are you talking about like conference games or just like in total?

Buddy Buck (10:11)
⁓ not sure. I just had a little birdie tell me you had 11 touchdowns this season, so that sounds like a lot.

Violet Bryant (10:13)
Yeah.

I

it's definitely at least 11. I know with the games this weekend it might be like 15, but ⁓ somewhere around there, yeah.

Buddy Buck (10:20)
Okay, let's go.

Yeah.

Cool,

that's awesome. Double digits for sure. And probably up on the medium to higher end of that. I love it. That's so cool. Was there one game, Violet, that kind of jumps to mind, either like a game or a moment this season that really kind of stood out to you?

Violet Bryant (10:32)
Yeah.

I'm going to say actually just from our playoff night a few days ago on Friday, our second game was a close matchup with our second opponent and we, the score was tied. It was 14 to 14 and they were on the goal line. It was third down and I was playing safety, which is actually not my starting position. It was defense instead of offense. So I'm a little less comfortable, but ⁓

I was playing there, so I had the responsibility to maintain my spot and the ball was thrown and I sort of like dove for it, deflecting the ball. It was a very important play. It sort of like saved the game for a moment. Like the crowd was going wild. I felt really strong. And then the next play they scored for 21 points or for seven points, but which made their score 21. And it was a little bit defeating, but I still had to finish out the game. So.

Just sort of like that feeling of having a really good play and then the next play the entire game just changed and you have to like readjust and adapt in the moment for sure.

Buddy Buck (11:38)
Yeah. Welcome to sports people. Yeah. One moment it's, you know, real high one moment it can be real low. And so on that note with like the highs and the lows of sports, because when you're talking about translating things from on the field to like the school room or the just your life, right? I love how you said commitment, just responsibility, you know, it's like, I just don't feel like going today. No, you show up for the person to your left and right,

Violet Bryant (11:40)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Buddy Buck (12:00)
I just thought it was so cool. the highs and the lows, As far as sports goes, because you know, sometimes the coaches over the years, we like, you know, you just try to maintain this some level of even keel, like not try to spike too high or too low. So but but like that moment you had on third down where you save the play in that moment, like that's I mean, I get like chills. I'm like, dude, I can only imagine not seeing it just what that moment would have felt like for you and your teammates and just, you know, the high fives and all that stuff like

Violet Bryant (12:05)
Yeah.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Buddy Buck (12:27)
every it's just play by play, right? Just like our life things could change in heartbeat. And I think sports is just such a powerful way to be able to teach that to our upcoming, you know, adult humans, you know, like sports is like, I lean back on sports because I don't. So I played baseball, football, basketball in high school at Curtis down in University Place.

Violet Bryant (12:39)
Yeah, for sure.

Buddy Buck (12:48)
And then, we went, I went to university of Washington where I met my wife. So Eve our freshman year, she's an, she was a pitcher at UW. So she's an all American pitcher pitched in the national championship game, all that stuff. and that's how we ended up in Duvall by that funny enough, because Eve did, like a softball, like a pitching and hitting a camp at like big rock fields, like, don't know, long time ago. And so when we were looking, we were moving from Kirkland and she's like, ⁓ I did this camp out in Duvall. I'm like, where the heck is Duvall? You know what mean?

Violet Bryant (12:55)
Nice.

Very cool.

Yeah, sure.

Buddy Buck (13:14)
And so we saw one house and bought it because of her connection to sports, honestly, and doing a camp here. so you also play soccer too, though. would you say that you're your number one sport or do you have a number one sport or how does soccer fit into your life?

Violet Bryant (13:28)
Well, I have been playing soccer since I was like five years old. So I would say overall throughout the year, it is typically my number one sport. I play down at Eastside FC. So I'm out there usually four to six times a week practicing or having games. But when it's winter time and winter season, I'm also doing flag at the same time. So I would say during flag season, they're pretty much tied. But for the rest of the year, it's primarily soccer for sure.

Buddy Buck (13:52)
Gotcha. Okay, cool. And I don't know all the leagues and all the connections, but do you know anybody that plays East Side Catholic soccer?

Violet Bryant (13:58)
⁓

I have a few girls on my team that play like for their high school team at Eastside Catholic, yeah.

Buddy Buck (14:03)
Do

you know? Well, I'll just ask you, do know Laney Brandsma? You don't know the name. Okay. So that's my best friend's daughter. I've gotten a couple of EC games and that's the only reason I know. Um, you know, that when you mentioned that I was like, Oh my gosh, it's a small world. You just never know. So we're going to put this on Duvall TV. Have you ever, heard of Duvall TV?

Violet Bryant (14:06)
I don't know, Laney

Cool.

Yes, I have heard and followed it. Especially your flood special, I watched a lot of and my mom actually works at Hillside Academy. So when I mentioned this interview, she was like, oh, they came to Hillside a few times. So yeah, I've heard about you guys through them too. I mean through her. Yeah.

Buddy Buck (14:30)
⁓ cool.

my gosh. That's cool. Yeah.

think a couple, somebody won on the last episode from hillside. ⁓ there's a trivia night coming up, I think in March. and I'm going to co-emcee that with my friend, Jon Lakefish. So yeah, hillside's super cool. Small world, very small world. it is Duvall.

Violet Bryant (14:51)
Cool. Yeah.

Buddy Buck (14:54)
So I would say for Duvall TV or livinginduval.com, the website, but more specifically for Duvall TV, is there something, if you could just like wave a magic wand and have certain things happen on the show, what would you like to see? What would be more appealing to maybe you or your age demographic?

Violet Bryant (15:10)
That's a good question.

Buddy Buck (15:13)
Besides interviewing you, I mean, that's already happening.

Violet Bryant (15:16)
Honestly, I really love the sports content that you guys do. One of the first videos of yours I think I ever saw was the video you did on Instagram with Cedarcrest Football and John Fiala. That senior night special I thought was really cool and just the sports videography, honestly.

Buddy Buck (15:33)
Cool. that's awesome. Ryan did the shoot and the edit on that. I was just, asked me to come be a part of it, which I was super grateful to do. That was fun. ⁓ and gosh, I'll tell you when I watched that too, I was like, damn Ryan, that was really good. Like, cause you know, you're there and you're just like running around and you know, the cameras are on and stuff, but the way that his vision like put it all together, it looked like a 30 for 30 on like Sportscenter or something. was like, ⁓ pretty wild. Yeah, I was too. It was a good job, right?

Violet Bryant (15:37)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I was very impressed.

Buddy Buck (16:01)
that was also fun too. So small tie-in. So coach Fiala we both were Lambda Chi's at University of Washington. So we never, we never were in the same, house at the same time. I joined the house like a couple of years after. So I kind of missed him, but, um, we were at the Riverview Education Foundation auction, uh, this weekend and ran into John and a couple, another fraternity brother there too. So super small world. Um, yeah, John's coach Fiala's he's awesome, man.

Violet Bryant (16:07)
No way, that's crazy.

Yeah.

That's super cool.

Yeah.

Buddy Buck (16:28)
all

right, cool. So we'll kind of bring this in for a little landing here. Who would be somebody else, ⁓ that we should have on the show? Like who comes to mind that you think would love it or, you know, be fun to interview or just would love to come on here and ham it up. ⁓ do you have any like suggestions

Violet Bryant (16:44)
say maybe one of my teachers at Cedarcrest because they're such amazing people who are teaching like people my age amazing things every day and they're such a crucial part of what makes Duvall special and what makes Cedarcrest special. Just making like being there every day an enjoyable experience so I would say one of my teachers for sure.

Buddy Buck (17:02)
Okay, I need some names. Drop me a couple names. This is in no particular order, teachers. Don't be like, she's not ranking you, but she's just spitting out some names here. So, whatever, a couple.

Violet Bryant (17:11)
Okay, ⁓

I would say maybe my history teacher Mr. Grayson. Do you want like first and last name or? Okay, Mr. Grayson. I would say maybe Miss Simone as well. and then maybe also Mr. Briggs Yeah, those are what come to mind first.

Buddy Buck (17:17)
Okay? Nope, Mr. Grayson's great.

Got it. ⁓

Okay, cool. Yeah, she loves all the rest of you too I promise. I have a couple names written down here. So when I went on Instagram, I saw like, oh, we both follow a couple of the same people. Obviously, you know, June Crawford from soccer, right? Yeah. So yeah, so I just, my wife and I had done some stuff with Acres of Diamonds made a video with them. Megan is incredible. So she's always like, now that we're doing more with like sports and stuff, I'm definitely gonna have June.

Violet Bryant (17:34)
Yeah, I love all of

Yes. Yes, I do.

Mm-hmm.

Buddy Buck (17:57)
you know, pop on and, you know, do a little podcast with her too. But so like June and then Abby Walker, they just live, they live on our street basically too. So she, Abby puppy sits our dogs. So, and then like Tori Hunter, we're going to have her on too. And then Hector Pena. So he's going to be a guest on an upcoming show too. we're getting, getting the youth movement going. Violet, let's go.

Violet Bryant (18:01)
For sure. ⁓

Cool. ⁓

Very cool. Yeah.

Buddy Buck (18:22)
Yeah,

and you're here for a whole nother year next year too. So this is awesome. We can just keep running this back. that last thing question Prediction time. Okay Seahawks who is gonna win the Super Bowl?

Violet Bryant (18:25)
Yes.

Personally, I would definitely say the Seahawks are gonna win the Super Bowl. Actually, a little bit like something funny about me and my family is, my family is actually entirely from the East Coast and my parents moved here when they were like in their 20s and then had me and my sister here. But my entire family, except for me, my sister, my mom, my dad are rooting for the Patriots and we're the only ones rooting for the Seahawks, but the Seahawks definitely have it in the bag

Buddy Buck (18:44)
wow.

Gotcha. Let's go. There's the prediction right there. okay. I do have, this is just, I have a couple more. I just got to ask you a couple more questions because this is too good. Violet. ⁓ So, day in Duvall. somebody doesn't know Duvall. What is a perfect like Saturday for you in Duvall? Like what, does a cool weekend or Saturday look like for somebody? Well, I'm just personally like what's a good Saturday for you. And then what

Violet Bryant (19:00)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Buddy Buck (19:22)
is somebody out of town be like, you should come do my favorite stuff. Like, what do you like to do here on a perfect weekend?

Violet Bryant (19:28)
My perfect weekend would probably be in the summer specifically. I would stop by Darci's and get a like a lotus or maybe a lemonade for that day, like a tropical drink because it's sunny out because it's summer. And then I would honestly probably go to the river, which is probably my favorite spot in all of Duvall. I've gone there since I was like a little kid, know, like just being in the sand, being by the water.

And then maybe getting an ice cream or a bagel from CC's after would probably be my ideal day. Yeah. Yep.

Buddy Buck (19:58)
yeah. Everybody loves CC's. Yep.

So good. CC's is the spot for sure. Okay. Rapid fire. These are the last questions for sure. Rapid fire. You're in the hot seat. You only pick one of these two. Okay. So it's an either or. So we'll just rip through like five or six of these and we'll just call it good. All right. So first up, we go. Hot round. ⁓ sunrise or sunset.

Violet Bryant (20:03)
Mm-hmm.

Okay, okay.

say sunset. Yeah. Pizza.

Buddy Buck (20:23)
Tacos or pizza?

Mountain or the river?

Violet Bryant (20:26)
River.

Buddy Buck (20:26)
⁓ Yeah, we should know that one by now. Early bird or night owl?

Violet Bryant (20:28)
you

Early bird. Yeah. Dogs, but I love cats, but dogs.

Buddy Buck (20:32)
Early bird, okay, dogs or cats?

Okay. Yeah. Ditto. Last one, texting or phone call.

Violet Bryant (20:37)
haha

say texting but I do love talking on the phone too. Yeah.

Buddy Buck (20:43)
Okay, and guess DM,

you say, like teach the GenX people here, would you say when somebody says texting, would you consider like DM texting or is DM just DM?

Violet Bryant (20:53)
I DM is definitely a form of texting. Yeah, I mean, it's not the same as like messages, but I would consider that texting for sure.

Buddy Buck (20:59)
that makes perfect sense. Some people are like, what does DM mean If you don't know what it is, you're not doing it. It doesn't matter. Or just ask your kid and they'll teach you what it is.

Violet Bryant (20:59)
haha

Yeah.

Buddy Buck (21:08)
All right, well, that's a wrap. are here with Violet Bryant junior at Cedarcrest High School talking about flag football, talking about soccer, talking about all the cool stuff to do in Duvall, Washington, right here on Community Connect. So thanks for being on Violet. Appreciate you. And we'll see you on the next one. You bet.

Violet Bryant (21:21)
Thank you for having me.