The Great Coaches: John Speraw

When Your Best Is Needed

This week’s guest, John Speraw, is an American volleyball coach who played for UCLA and was part of 2 NCAA championship teams before moving into assistant coaching upon graduation.

In 2002 he took on his first Head Coach position with UC Irvine, spending 10 years with the team and leading them to 3 NCAA championships. Returning to UCLA in 2012, he then went on to lead his old team to an additional 2 NCAA championships.

John was an Assistant Coach for the USA Men’s team at the 2008 Olympics, who won gold, and he subsequently led the team to bronze medals at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. Presently, he serves as the President and CEO of USA Volleyball.

There were some fantastic points raised during our interview, but the ones that resonated the most to me were:

• Great Coaches lean into their strengths and keep learning — John mentions that the best coaches he has known each had one or two exceptional strengths, but what also set them apart was their humility, curiosity, and ability to accept and use input from others.

• Systems helped him win without the most talent — At UC Irvine, John had limited resources and as a result he had to develop his own coaching identity focused on structure, systems, responsibilities, and making the most of his players.

• Pressure preparation must happen long before the big moment — John emphasised that teams need language, routine, visualisation and mental preparation to be in place well before championship moments, because something usually goes wrong when it matters most.

• Your path isn’t always what you expect — John originally considered attending medical school, but the early coaching opportunities he found at UCLA and with national teams pulled him towards volleyball coaching, where experience quickly shaped his future.

This was a brilliant interview to record and I hope that you’ll take a lot from it as you listen. Make sure to take a look at the reflection questions below to help you make the most of John’s insights!

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

Some key questions raised from today’s episode:

• What are one or two strengths that I naturally bring to a team, and how could I use them more intentionally?

• What routine or mindset could help me to stay composed and useful in high pressure moments?

• Who has helped me to see a possibility for myself that I could not yet see, and how can I now do that for someone else?

Find all of our past interviews with some of sport’s most successful coaches and leaders on our website.

Growth Over Comfort

If you follow us on social media or your preferred podcast platform, you may have seen us upload the latest meeting of our book club, discussing Graem Sims’ “Why Die? The Extraordinary Percy Cerutty, 'Maker of Champions'“.

The book looks at the inspiring life and career of Percy Cerutty, an Australian athletics coach who led a transformation in the field of distance running during the 1950s and 60s. His ‘Stotan Philosophy’ — a mix of stoic discipline, spartan toughness, natural diets, and a mix of both physical and intellectual training — helped him to coach Herb Elliot to world records and Olympic gold, and also inspired athletes to pursue physical excellence and personal mastery.

Our discussion — led by Anglia Ruskin University’s Dr David Turner and another of Cerutty’s biographers, Andrew Gunn — delved deep into Cerutty’s career and philosophy, and prompted us to review our own leadership and mindsets. It was a brilliant meeting, and I came away with 3 self-reflective questions to dwell on, which I hope you’ll also consider over the weekend:

• Where in my life could I benefit from choosing growth over comfort?

• What is one challenge I have already overcome that shows I am capable of reinvention?

• How do I personally measure success: by outward achievement, or by how far I have come from where I started?

Make sure to give the episode a listen, and if you feel drawn to read the book yourself, then I would highly encourage it.

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

Join Our Best-Practice Groups

This newsletter goes out to over 20,000 coaches and sport, business, and community leaders worldwide.

We offer best-practice groups where you can meet and share ideas, facilitated and structured and occurring at the same time each month.

If you would like to know more, contact [email protected]

We combine videos of the Great Coaches that we have interviewed with our experience as corporate and sporting leaders in order to bring insight, energy, and ideas to your teams.

Exploring Sports Psychology

If our recent episodes and book club meeting have inspired you to think more about the psychological elements of sports and leadership success, then Routledge’s ‘Psychology in Sports Coaching’ may be of some interest.

Introducing tools and techniques that coaches can use to get the best performances from their athletes, this book will give you a fantastic overview of the field of sports psychology (including the latest research and theory) while also giving brilliant step-by-step guidance on how you can apply it to your own leadership and coaching.

For those of you looking to delve further into sports psychology as a potential career, the book also contains case studies and practice exam questions to help you get used to thinking more critically about leadership and coaching.

Challenge Yourself with the Macquarie MBA

This newsletter is brought to you by Macquarie University Business School’s MBA program. Designed to empower, challenge and transform, the Macquarie MBA gives you the business skills and knowledge you need to succeed in an evolving global economy.

The program bridges the gap between theory and real-world application, bringing together world-leading professors, executives and industry partners to teach you how business can be used for good.

I have started working with the team at Macquarie on some projects and can attest to the quality of the people and material. To find out more, search for Macquarie University Business School’s MBA.

Find out more: https://www.mq.edu.au/macquarie-business-school/

Elevated Leadership

If you’re looking to improve your own leadership skills, get in touch with us at elevatedleadership.com.au 

Our team of executive coaches — including The Great Coaches host, Paul Barnett — bring a wealth of experience as international CEOs who have faced the challenge of stepping forward in uncertain moments.