If Gold Is Our Destiny, my book about the 1984 U.S. men’s national volleyball team and their epic quest for Olympic glory, comes out July 13th.
January 1983 marked a critical inflection point in the team’s long journey from mediocrity to becoming the best in the world. To build resilience and bring the team together, the coaches made a bold yet unpopular decision: they required the team to complete a 3-week Outward Bound course.
Last week I chronicled the first day of that course. This week, we pick up the story after the grueling alpine phase was complete and the group had a couple of days to rest and recuperate.
The instructors gathered the players and coaches together to introduce the next segment of the Outward Bound course: the solo. Each member of the group would hike into Canyonlands National Park and spend two days alone, isolated from their teammates, where they would be utterly responsible for their own well-being and safety. If an individual slacked off, he, not his teammates, would pay the price. Yet the logic behind the exercise went beyond that.
The larger goal in sending each individual out alone was to force him to confront himself, and through an exercise in journaling, reflect on his experience so far. It was the hope of the instructors that the players and coaches would confront some hard truths about themselves, their role on the team, and their interaction with others.
“It tends to be one of the most powerful elements of the course,” wrote Peter O’Neil, the lead instructor, in his trip report. “It is a chance to rest, write, think, sleep, prioritize and contemplate, and it is a challenge because it pits one against one’s thoughts until they have all run out and the students must finally learn what kind of company they make.”
This picture was taken shortly after the Solo phase was complete, and the players had regrouped into “patrols” of 4-5 teammates. Nestled under a sandstone alcove in Canyonlands National Park, left to right, are Jon Roberts, Steve Timmons, Paul Sunderland, Aldis Berzins, and Larry Benecke. PHOTO CREDIT: RANDY UDALL
The physical and mental demands of the alpine phase were such that many of the players welcomed the relatively slower pace of the solo. To help each player contemplate their dedication and contribution to the team, the players were prompted with questions designed to provoke introspection:
Athletic ability aside, what would make you a better volleyball player?
Winning and losing aside, why do you play the game?
Armed with their backpack, a journal, and a pen, each individual set off on his own path, to spend time alone with his thoughts. Snow fell silently as they walked into the wilderness of Canyonlands National Park. Utterly alone, they charted a solo path through some of the most stunning and otherworldly terrain in the United States, moving over the “slickrock” Cedar Mesa Sandstone formations, and gazing up at Wingate Sandstone cliffs.
“For people who generally lived in bustling Southern California with nonstop sounds of transportation, construction, conversation, music, and countless ambient distractions, the wilderness silence was deafening,” recalled assistant coach Bill Neville, who was also participating in the solo experience.
As they opened their journals, each player confronted questions that, despite their importance, they had never really contemplated before, at least at their deepest level.
Why do I play volleyball?
Is it to satisfy a parent? Am I perhaps chasing someone else’s dream?
Is it to gain social status on the beach?
Is it just a way to get girls or money?
Is it a way to test myself and push to become better?
Is it a way to escape from something else? An outlet for larger frustrations or perhaps a way to avoid confronting other issues in my life?
“As night came on, it was cold but no wind. Peaceful,” remembers Neville.“ And then wafting on the silence came the sound of the lonely strains of a harmonica. Mike Blanchard. Out there somewhere he was playing. It was perfect.” In such a setting, it was almost impossible for players to avoid pondering their answers.
Please join me for the virtual launch party on Wednesday July 13th from 10 AM - 11AM PT (1PM - 2PM ET). Joining me from the 1984 gold medal winning USA volleyball team will be head coach Doug Beal, assistant coach Bill Neville and player Aldis Berzins.
Register here.
Sean Murray is the founder of RealTime Performance, a leadership development firm based in Seattle, WA, and the author of If Gold Is Our Destiny: How a Team of Mavericks Came Together for Olympic Glory.
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