Meet the UCLA softball legend who inspired the success of US women’s volleyball

PARIS –

A woman with chin-length gray hair appeared on screen in front of the United States women’s volleyball team. He was talking about parables. He ordered a room, even a real one, that didn’t belong to someone else. It was a real mess, star outside actor Jordan Larson thought.

“Who is this woman?” The four-time Olympian wondered.

Sue Enquist became the secret weapon of American women’s volleyball. The UCLA softball legend joined the national volleyball team as a cultural expert before the Tokyo Olympics and helped lay the groundwork for the team to win its first Olympic gold medal.

Now in Paris, Enquist is applying his leadership philosophies to help the United States chase another Olympic title. The size of the team remains intact from three years ago, but Enquist’s coaching has helped cement the idea that the Games, which span 17 days with three pool matches followed by three knockout stages, it is not a “defense” of bullying.

It’s not about being better than any opponent. It’s just “bigger than the moment,” Enquist said.

“He’s been the biggest asset,” Larson said of Enquist’s influence.

After going 2-1 in pool play, the United States begins the quarterfinals on Tuesday against Poland.

Enquist knows about the success of the national team. He was one of the coaches who prepared the US softball team to win gold in 1996 during the first tournament of the Olympic games. But his five international gold medals as a player and three as a coach seem like footnotes compared to his impressive career in the school teams. A former UCLA softball All-American, Enquist was also the first to win national titles in softball as a player and head coach. The midfielder led the Bruins to their first national title in 1978 under the AIAW banner and won 10 NCAA titles as a coach.

He retired in 2006, turning the program over to his former player and assistant Kelly Inouye-Perez, who still considers Enquist “the greatest mentor in life.”

“He’s a born leader,” said Inouye-Perez, who is in his 18th season at his alma mater.

Enquist made an immediate impression on American volleyball players on Zoom during the early stages of the pandemic. In an effort to stay busy during the shutdown, the group took part in several shows with prominent speakers including Billie Jean King, Julie Foudy and Sue Bird.

Enquist left a big impression.

Larson emailed Enquist personally after the meeting and asked if he would join the players on private Zoom. He would take the players through team building exercises asking them one thing they liked about themselves as part of the team and one thing they could improve. He didn’t ask about volleyball.

For Enquist, a protégé of legendary UCLA men’s basketball coach John Wooden, culture starts with people. The mantra is true whether Enquist is talking to professional sports teams, college teams or corporate ventures. He passes it on through UCLA’s master’s program in transformational training and leadership, where he designed the curriculum.

Enquist looks at the people in each group and looks at how they are related. Then learn the system they work under and assess where they work. He helps build relationships by guiding groups through informal discussions.

In national teams, where players are the best in the world but don’t train together all year round, building strong relationships is important. Talent is never an issue, it is organizing people to work together. Enquist, as he often does, has an analogy for that.

“The ego is like a gun,” Enquist said. “When it’s loaded, loaded, and knows when it’s released, it’s the best thing to see. If it’s not set up, it’s not packed correctly, you can blow your arm. You can destroy the team. So ego is one of the best distractions we have in sports. I like big egos and the focus is how we organize to let egos burn. “

Enquist’s “Sue-isms” that Inouye-Perez still uses with her team highlight UCLA’s football culture nearly 20 years after the coach left Westwood. Her energy, which USA head coach Karch Kiraly said makes it feel like “every day is full of sunshine when she’s around,” impressed USA volleyball players enough to reach out to Kiraly putting him in the official role leading up to the Tokyo Olympics.

Kiraly, the only person to have won Olympic medals in beach and indoor volleyball and won gold medals as a coach and as an indoor and beach volleyball player, thought it was a good idea. A coach’s willingness to ask for feedback sets the tone for the team, Enquist said.

“It takes a confident coach and head coach to say we want these women to have a democratic voice,” Enquist said. “He is paid to win and he will pass on the culture to the players.”

Kiraly, in his third Olympic cycle as America’s head coach, relies on a leadership council that includes Larson, setter Jordyn Poulter and outfielder Kelsey Robinson Cook. Larson is in his fourth Olympics and Robinson Cook is returning for his third. A two-time Olympian and Tokyo Olympics Champion, Poulter wears the captain’s bar on his jersey as voted by his teammates.

The relay team has the talent to make multiple Olympic starting teams, Enquist said, but success comes from how each individual measures their performance and selflessness. Only the best teams with players who are willing to sacrifice for their teammates while serving their time can succeed at high performance levels.

In that respect, the women’s volleyball team, Enquist said, is one of the best it’s ever been without her help.

“What I did was shine a light on what they are and shine a light on how they want to build it,” Enquist said. “They did it.”