The power of 3

“Inspired by his dad, and by our USA coaches and players, Sean spent 5 arduous years writing our story leading up to L.A. 1984, and the result is … a joy.”
Karch Kiraly, 3-time Olympic volleyball gold medalist and US women’s head coach

In volleyball, a team must respond to a serve in 3 hits or less, ideally using all 3 to their strategic advantage: bump-volley-spike or pass-set-kill so that the ball’s velocity and careful placement makes a return impossible.

The players must work together and cooperate in ways like few other sports if they are going to score and win, which makes the story of the 1984 U.S. men’s volleyball team an especially poignant one of the bumpy road that precedes most any path to greatness as well as a powerful lesson on leadership and team-building.

If Gold Is Our Destiny tells how a team of mavericks must learn to trust each other and work together to survive a coach-mandated, 3-week Outward Bound trek in the Utah mountains. The experience became a critical turning point and catalyst for their eventual gold-medal win at the 1984 Olympic Games.

Author Sean Murray works with Advantage thought leader partner Brent Snow of 10,000 Feet in addition to his role as the founder and president of RealTime Performance, a leadership training and organization development company based in Seattle.

The book itself is the result of a series of volleys, the first by Sean’s father, Don Murray, sports psychologist for the team and a pioneer in his field; the second by their Head Coach Doug Beal, who went all-in when Sean contacted him in 2017 about becoming a source for his book; and the third by the author, who fulfills a loving tribute to his late father as he brings to life memories from his childhood and shares the untold stories he researched to reveal the depth and details of the struggles the team endured and overcame.

“What makes the story really interesting is that the team wasn’t gelling. There was a lot of conflict and strong personalities,” Sean told us in an email. Hence, the coach’s controversial move to send them away on an Outward Bound trip:

“The players didn’t want to go. … They hiked and snowshoed over 100 miles with 70-pound packs, climbing over 11,000 feet in the middle of winter. The players were reliant on each other to survive. When they returned, they started winning. So many great lessons we can learn from this team.”

A virtual book launch party is set for tomorrow, July 13, at 1pm Eastern via Zoom. RSVP here to attend! You can get the book here.

One great thing for 07.12.22 – In this chapter excerpt, author Sean Murray captures the hard decisions, heartache, and startling reversal of fortune surrounding a charismatic player who got cut and went home to tend bar in The Straw That Stirred Our Drink from If Gold Is Our Destiny: How a Team of Mavericks Came Together for Olympic Glory