There is a question that begs to be answered though. Knowing where these Olympic athletes are now, would it have helped if they had known what was needed beforehand to book their trip to Tokyo years later?
The U.S. Women’s National Team coach and volley legend in his own right, Karch Kiraly recently answered an e mail query about what the exceptional athletes in his U.S.A. gym have in common. And it’s a good jumping off point for asking if we as Coaches and Parents are really doing what is best for our athletes?
Karch, who has been at the helm of the women’s National Team since 2013 and was an assistant the quad before, has self admittedly grown into the position and commands the respect of his athletes with his non negotiable pillar of a growth mindset. It’s not uncommon for him to approach guests in his Anaheim training facility after a practice and ask them for suggestions of what he can do better.
This idea of this unique perpetual learning space has trickled down to his team and they embrace this philosophy with both hands. In the question that prompted this post, Karch was asked NOT to mention a growth mindset because it has become synonymous with his program- from the top down. No need to mention the obvious.
“Every Women’s National Teamer is unique, each brings her own set of special skills and traits to our program - so it’s not necessarily easy or fair to generalize,” he began in his answer. This in itself telling of a coach that understands the idea of “needs based” coaching- not the one-size-fits-all so prevalent still in teaching but tailoring the training for the individual to get the best out of them while keeping the entire group engaged and moving forward.
Karch goes into his first of three characteristics he recognizes in the athletes that are exceptional enough to garner an invite into his gym.
“A common trait to be found among this special group is toughness and grit. You don’t earn your way into our gym, joining and battling the best players in the country and a number of the best in the world, without facing down some serious failures, losses and ‘crashes’ along the way. That path includes USA Select, Youth National Teams, Junior National Teams, High School, juniors, College, Professional, and our Women’s National Team itself.”
Failures, losses and crashes as a precursor to volleyball excellence? Many Olympic athletes in all sports have had hiccups in their ascent to the top of their sport. Injuries, bad coaches, lack of facilities or funding are all part of an Olympians journey. But looking back from this we have to ask…
As a parent, do you allow your athlete to go through the “failures, losses and crashes along the way” or do you deflect these from your child? Do we give them a bumper car life to keep them safe and never let them know how acrid the taste of defeat can be?
Coaches, do we allow our kids to make mistakes or just pull them from matches when they “don’t seem to have it today?” When will your ‘worst server’ get a game-like chance to get better? When do we stop looking at mistakes as the wrong numbers on a scoreboard and realize they are vital learning opportunities and the essence of learning?
National Team players have made peace with failure. They are not necessarily happy or comfortable with it, but they understand it is part of the process. Karch’s gold medal sights were upset in the semi finals of the 2016 Rio Olympics by Serbia, 13-15th in the fifth set. The players and coaches were distraught. But they overcame their disappointment and went on to win the mentally hardest sets in the Olympic volleyball competition, the bronze medal match 3-1 v. the Netherlands.
As parents and coaches, what can we do for our teams, programs and institutions, to understand this key component to excellence? Can we stop playing the short game and understand losing is a part of sport and is not to be sequestered with blame, anger and disappointment?
“Another common trait is of course execution.” Karch says of his second characteristic. “If someone can’t execute the skills that her position demands at a consistent and elite level, or can’t learn to do so in the early years of her post-college volleyball career, it’s going to be very difficult for that person to keep earning a place within the program.”
Coaches, pull out and look at your practice plan for tonight. Are your athletes going to get game-like reps in a way that promotes the transfer and retention of those skills over the long haul, or are we just putting together a playlist of simple, one dimensional, unrealistic activities to keep the kids busy for 90 minutes? Will your training start with your 15 minute diatribe about working hard in practice to be followed up with going-through-the-motion drills that stymie their creativity and put a noose around their ability to self discover?
Coaches, this falls on us. Science tells us how to train optimally. The attention span of our athletes tells us if what we are doing is working and engaging. The improvements over weeks and months are an indicator of successful methods. Is your path one that you would be comfortable with your son or daughter taking?
“A third common trait would be the ability to make the people around oneself better.” Karch says of a quality he shined at in his playing career. “Our former Men’s National Team coach Bill Neville would call this, ‘Elevating the play of those around you.’ Teammate-ship, communication, leadership, poise under stress and reading ability are just a few things to come to mind when contemplating the myriad of ways of elevating people around us.”
Pick a team sport and this quality is monumental; the nucleus of the team atom. In the years the U.S.A. National teams have done poorly or underachieved, a lack of leadership and/or chemistry was often the poison pill.
As Parents, how can we help raise strong leaders and communicators? It’s certainly not by hiding them from rough waters and potential shipwrecks. You hear successful teams refer to their “glue guys,” the ones that keep everyone on the same path, the ones that will grab the strays and bring them back to the herd, the ones that lead by example on and off the court and yet are still able to put the team ahead of their own interests and ego.
In this age of I, it’s harder than ever. Social media dictates that the ‘me’ is more important than the ‘we’ and our every post is critiqued by the whimsy of likes and follows. This flimsy veil of confidence cannot stand up to the tensile strength rigors of leading a team into battle. Add to this the lack of opportunities facing adversity and you have a recipe for poor or vacant leadership.
Can we change? Of course: our training, our feedback, our points of emphasis, our focuses can all be manipulated toward the kind of athletes Karch wants in his National Team gym. Is it easy? No; change never is. But these three qualities: toughness and grit, execution and the ability to make those around them better are also traits that are defined in a valued and relevant life.
Karch Kiraly’s generous insight has given us a look at the Path to the Podium with a stopover in his National Team gym and a map of how to get there. It’s up to us to use his wisdom and insights here to better prepare our athletes for what might be their journey, the same path that we too, as coaches and parents, must be better at paving.
