We don’t typically send newsletters on Wednesdays, but I wanted to pop in with something a little different. This morning—as in the moment this newsletter arrives in your inbox—my new podcast with Amie Just called Six Zone Duo will have launched. It’s a weekly national women’s volleyball show and our first episode is out right now.
Before I get too far into that though, I want to make one thing clear: Counter Read is still Counter Read.
This newsletter is not suddenly becoming Six Zone Duo. Brandon and I are still doing what we set out to do here, which is tell good sports stories, ask better questions, go a little deeper when we can and build something that feels worth opening when it lands in your inbox.
That part still matters deeply to me.
When Brandon and I started Counter Read three years ago, we really believed there was room for thoughtful sports coverage that did not always have to fit into the usual boxes. We wanted a place for stories that could breathe a little. We wanted to write about Nebraska, women’s sports, college athletics and the things around sports that deserve more care and context.
And because so many of you have subscribed, read, shared, paid, encouraged us or simply kept showing up, Counter Read has become something that has opened other doors.
Six Zone Duo is one of those doors.
When Split Zone Duo approached me about helping launch a national women’s volleyball podcast, I could not say no. The sport is having such an interesting, exciting moment, and I do not mean that in a vague “women’s sports are growing” kind of way, even though they absolutely are. I mean, you can feel it.
You can feel it in the arenas. You can feel it in the TV numbers. You can feel it in the way people talk about the players now. You can feel it in the fact that college volleyball has become appointment viewing for more people and that professional volleyball is getting more investment, more attention and more room to grow.
The audience is already here. The coverage should be here, too.
That is what Amie and I are hoping to build with Six Zone Duo. It is not specifically a Nebraska volleyball podcast, although Nebraska will obviously be part of the conversation. It is a national women’s volleyball podcast at its core. We’ll talk through matches, teams, players, coaches and the bigger things happening around the sport.
The show is presented by Homefield and executive produced by Split Zone Duo co-founders Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner. If you know college football podcasts, you probably know what Richard and Alex have built. To be part of their first expansion beyond Split Zone Duo is honestly pretty special.
It also feels special because of the way these worlds overlap.
Counter Read has always been part sportswriting, part curiosity project and part community. Six Zone Duo comes from that same place for me. It is another way to cover something I care about with the kind of seriousness, joy and attention I think it deserves.
There will naturally be some crossover here and there. Heck, you might even see Brandon make an appearance over there or a Six Zone Duo piece make its way over here. Volleyball is already part of what we cover at Counter Read1, after all, and that will not change. The podcast is its own thing, with its own feeds, its own social accounts2 and its own rhythm.
I mostly wanted to tell you about it here because you all are a big reason I get to do something like this in the first place.
Counter Read exists because people decided to support it. Some of you have been here since the beginning. Some of you are newer. Some of you pay for subscriptions, some of you read for free. All of it matters. Truly.
So consider this a thank you, an introduction and maybe an invitation.
The first episode of Six Zone Duo is out now—we recap the weekend that was of the AVCA First Serve—and new episodes will release every Monday after that. You’ll be able to find it on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and wherever you get podcasts.
If volleyball is not your thing? That is OK, too3. Counter Read will still be here. But if it is your thing, or if you are curious, I hope you’ll check it out.
This sport is getting bigger. The conversation around it should, too. I’m really excited to be part of that.
Actually it’s not, and I need to have a conversation with you immediately. Email me or something.
outstanding!
I worry I am over college football, this is very appreciated.