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U.S. coach John Speraw knows what to expect with Brazil coming off one of worst Olympic losses in recent history — a highly motivated opponent.
Off the Block through the USA Volleyball media department interviewed Speraw about the team’s pool-play match against Brazil on Friday. Check out what Speraw had to say about playing the defending Olympic gold medalists.
Off the Block: Can you give us your initial assessment about your team’s upcoming match against Brazil?
John Speraw: We are going to get their very best. I’m sure that their loss to Russia in three was not on the agenda. The Olympics is a tournament which can have some significant emotional swings, and so I anticipate them rebounding and coming back and playing their best volleyball of the tournament.
Off the Block: This match-up is going to feature two of the top setters in the world — Micah Christenson and Bruno. What do you feel makes these two so special at the setting position and what is the biggest difference between them?
John Speraw: What makes both Micah and Bruno so special is first they are all-around great volleyball players — they serve, they block and they dig. They just play the all-around game as well as their obvious skill of setting and running the offense. Secondly, I think they are both real emotional leaders of their respective teams. You can see Bruno really is just the true leader of that team and is so competitive. Micah also brings an incredible competitive nature to our team on the court. And I think they both are really great leaders.
Off the Block: TJ DeFalco, Taylor Sander and Erik Shoji have been handling the majority of the passing duties in the first three matches. What’s your thoughts on their serve reception performance so far this tournament and how do you think they will fare against Brazil?
John Speraw: Our serve reception performance so far this tournament has been pretty good. I know we had a couple situations versus Tunisia that weren’t very clean, but in general Erik and Taylor have been doing a great job. I think TJ in his first Olympics has done great so far. I think against Brazil the challenge is going that’ll be facing another great serving team in this tournament. Their ability in several different spots to serve [and] impart real pressure on us is going to be a significant challenge, but I’m pretty confident we’ll be able to do a good job on reception.
Off the Block: The mental health of athletes has been a big discussion in the United States the last few days. Can you talk about how you view the importance of mental health for your players on Team USA? [Editor’s note: Speraw was asked a similar question in his postmatch media availability after the United States beat Tunisia on Wednesday. Below is his response to that postmatch question.]
John Speraw: We’re super proactive. I grew up in a household where my mom was a psychologist, so I think early on in my coaching career my coaching philosophy has always revolved around the mental side of the game. I think it’s always been the differentiator so from a performance psychology perspective I really dived in going back to 2007 by the time I finished my collegiate years at UC Irvine I actually had a full-time sports psychologist as one of my staff members, full time, totally integrated. Her name is Andrea Becker and she’s continued to work with me on the national team. I think she’s the best in the business. Certainly the number one sports psych in volleyball. She’s very active with our athletes, has been for the last eight years, nine years. I know that that’s just something that we are very open to this conversation. Secondly, from a staff perspective we understand the realities of the pressures of the Olympic Games. It’s much more significant than when I first started coming into Beijing in 2008 and that has a lot to do with social media. I remember in Rio, our guys were going through the Opening Ceremony, they were putting it on Facebook Live. To me it was the most striking that we went into that Olympics and here you’re announcing to the whole world, I’m at the Olympic Games, come look at me. Two matches in, we lose the first two and all the sudden that puts an exorbitant amount of pressure on you because now everybody actually is looking at you for the first time. And a lot of time with these Olympic sports this is where a lot of people watch you closely every four years. So I think we are very conscience of the increased scrutiny and external pressure and expectations that places on our athletes. We are very direct and upfront about that the entire quad. We know what’s coming. We put a significant amount of resources and I’d like to thank USAV [USA Volleyball] for really stepping up in this regard. Over the last eight years they’ve really increased our budget from a performance and clinical psych perspective, and we really advocate to our guys, hey if you have some issues here are the resources for you and we really encourage you to use them, and I know that they do. That being said. Sometimes you get to the end of the tournament, and you find out what’s going on and you’re like woah, how come I didn’t know that? We just try to encourage our guys to be directly honest, be willing to be vulnerable, tell us the truth, tell us the truth now so we can deal with it as quickly as we can.