Meet the UCLA softball legend influencing U.S. women’s volleyball’s success

A woman with chin-length blonde hair appeared on the screen in front of the U.S. women’s volleyball team. She talked in analogies. She commanded a room, even a virtual one, like no one else. She was a real spitfire, star outside hitter Jordan Larson thought.

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

Sue Enquist turned into U.S. women’s volleyball’s secret weapon. The UCLA softball legend joined the national volleyball team as a culture consultant in advance of the Tokyo Olympics and helped set the foundation for the team to win its first Olympic gold medal.

Now in Paris, Enquist is instilling her leadership philosophies to help the United States chase another Olympic title. Much of the team remains intact from three years ago, but Enquist’s coaching has helped enforce the mindset that these Games, 17 days long with three pool matches followed by as many as three knockout stages, are not a championship “defense.”

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

“It has 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 national team success. She was part of the coaching staff that prepared the U.S. softball team to win 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 a player and head coach. The center fielder led the Bruins to their first national title in 1978 under the AIAW banner then won 10 NCAA titles as a coach.

She retired in 2006, passing the program to her former player and assistant Kelly Inouye-Perez, who still considers Enquist her “biggest mentor in life.”

“She’s a born leader,” said Inouye-Perez, who finished her 18th season at the helm of her alma mater.

Enquist captivated the U.S. volleyball players immediately on a 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 Billie Jean King, Julie Foudy and Sue Bird.

Enquist left the biggest impression.

Larson emailed Enquist personally after the session and asked if she would join the players on a private Zoom. She ran the players through team-building exercises asking one thing they liked about themselves as a teammate and one thing that they could improve. She didn’t ask about volleyball.

For Enquist, a disciple of UCLA’s legendary men’s basketball coach John Wooden, culture begins with people. The mantra holds true whether Enquist is consulting for professional sports teams, college squads or even corporate businesses. She passes it on through UCLA’s master’s program of transformational coaching and leadership, where she designed the curriculum.

Enquist looks at the people on each team and observes how they relate to each other. Then she studies the system they work under and evaluates where they perform. She facilitates relationship building by guiding 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, it’s organizing the personalities to work together. Enquist, as she often does, has an analogy for that.

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“Ego is like gunpowder,” Enquist said. “When it’s packed and loaded and knows when to release, it’s the most beautiful thing to see. If it’s not organized, it’s not packed correctly, you can blow off a hand. You can blow up a team. So ego is one of the most beautiful messes that we have in sport. I love big egos and the goal is how do we organize when to let the egos fire.”

Enquist’s “Sue-isms” that Inouye-Perez still uses with her team underscore the UCLA softball culture nearly 20 years after the coach left Westwood. Her energy that U.S. head coach Karch Kiraly said makes it feel lke “every day is filled with sunshine when she’s around,” enthralled U.S. volleyball players enough that they approached Kiraly to add her in a more official role leading up to the Tokyo Olympics.

Kiraly, the only person to win Olympic medals in beach and indoor volleyball and has won gold medals as a coach and as a player in indoor and beach, 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 paid to win and you’re going to hand over the culture to the players.”

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Kiraly, in his third Olympic cycle as the U.S. head coach, relies on a leadership council featuring Larson, setter Jordyn Poulter and outside hitter Kelsey Robinson Cook. Larson is in her fourth Olympics and Robinson Cook returning for her third. Two-time Olympian and the Tokyo Olympics best setter Poulter wears the captain’s bar on her jersey as voted on by teammates.

The stacked team has talent to field multiple starting lineups in the Olympics, Enquist said, but the 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 while also being ready for their own moments can thrive in high performance situations.

In that aspect, the women’s volleyball team, Enquist said, is one of the best she’s ever been around, even without her help.

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

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.