A woman with chin-length blonde hair appeared on the screen in front of the U.S. women’s volleyball team. She spoke in analogies. She dominated a room, even a virtual room, like no one else. She was a real beast, thought star spiker Jordan Larson.
“Who is this woman?” the four-time Olympian asked herself.
Sue Enquist became the secret weapon of U.S. women’s volleyball. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) The softball legend joined the national volleyball team as a cultural consultant before the Tokyo Olympics and helped lay the groundwork for the team to win its first Olympic gold medal.
Now, in Paris, Enquist is instilling his leadership philosophy to help the United States capture another Olympic title. Much of the team remains intact from three years ago, but Enquist’s coaching has helped reinforce the mindset that these Games — 17 days long with three group games followed by up to three knockout stages — are not a “championship defense.”
It’s not about being better than any opponent. It’s simply about being “bigger than the moment,” Enquist said.
“He’s been the biggest asset,” Larson said of Enquist’s influence.
After going 2-1 in the group stage, the United States begins the quarterfinals on Tuesday against Poland.
Enquist knows what it’s like to have national team success. She was part of the coaching staff that coached the U.S. softball team to gold in 1996 during the sport’s inaugural Olympic tournament. But her five international gold medals as a player and three as a coach seem like a footnote compared to her illustrious career in the collegiate ranks. UCLA’s first softball All-American, Enquist was also the first person to win national softball titles as both a player and head coach. The center fielder led the Bruins to their first national title in 1978 under the AIAW banner and went on to win 10 NCAA titles as a coach.
She retired in 2006, passing the program to her former player and assistant. Kelly Inouye-Perezwho still considers Enquist his “greatest mentor in life.”
“She’s a natural leader,” said Inouye-Perez, who finished her 18th season at the helm of her alma mater.
Enquist captivated the U.S. volleyball players immediately via Zoom during the early stages of the pandemic. In an effort to stay engaged during the shutdown, the team participated in several sessions with prominent speakers, including King Billie Jean, Julie Foudy and Sue Bird.
Enquist left the biggest impression.
Larson emailed Enquist personally after the session and asked if she could join the players in a private Zoom session. She ran them through team-building exercises and asked them what they liked about themselves as teammates and what they could improve on. She didn’t ask them anything about volleyball.
For Enquist, a disciple of the legendary UCLA men’s basketball coach Wooden JohnCulture starts with people. This mantra holds true whether Enquist is advising professional sports teams, college teams or even corporations. He carries it through UCLA’s master’s program in transformational leadership and coaching, where he designed the curriculum.
Enquist observes the people on each team and sees how they relate to each other. He then studies the system under which they work and evaluates their performance. He facilitates relationship development by guiding the groups through regular conversations.
On national teams, where players are the best in the world but rarely train together year-round, building strong relationships is vital. Talent is never an issue, what’s important is organizing personalities to work together. Enquist, as he often does, has an analogy for that.
Read more: Olympic star Ilona Maher wants to break stereotypes about female athletes
“Ego is like gunpowder,” Enquist said. “When it’s charged and you know when to let it go, it’s the most beautiful thing you can see. If it’s not organized, if it’s not charged correctly, you can blow a hand off. You can blow up a team. So ego is one of the most beautiful messes we have in sports. I love big egos and the goal is how do we organize when to let egos run wild.”
The Enquist “Sue-isms” that Inouye-Perez still uses with her team underscore the culture of UCLA softball nearly 20 years after the coach left Westwood. Her energy that the U.S. head coach Karch Kiraly She said she makes it seem like “every day is full of sunshine when she’s around,” captivating U.S. volleyball players enough that they approached Kiraly about adding her in a more official role heading into the Tokyo Olympics.
Kiraly, the only person to have won Olympic medals in both beach and indoor volleyball, and who has won gold medals as a coach and player in both beach and indoor volleyball, thought it was a great idea. The coach’s willingness to solicit feedback sets the tone for the team, Enquist said.
“It takes a really confident coaching staff and head coach to say we want these women to have a democratized voice,” Enquist said. “You’re getting paid to win and you’re going to pass the culture down to the players.”
Read more: Olympic athletes have a new concern about the Seine, and it’s not pollution
Kiraly, in his third Olympic stint as U.S. head coach, has a leadership council that includes Larson, setter Jordyn Poulter and outside hitter Kelsey Robinson Cook. Larson is in her fourth Olympics and Robinson Cook is returning for her third. Poulter, a two-time Olympian and the top setter at the Tokyo Olympics, wears the captain’s bar on her jersey, voted on by her teammates.
Enquist said the team has the talent to field multiple starting lineups at the Olympics, but success comes from how each individual balances personal performance with selflessness. Only the best teams with players who are willing to sacrifice for their teammates and are also ready for their own moments can thrive in high-performance situations.
In that regard, the women’s volleyball team, Enquist said, is one of the best he’s ever had, even without his help.
“All I did was highlight what they are and then highlight how they wanted to build it,” Enquist said. “They did it.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.