By Ryan Maloney, assistant women's volleyball coach
Months after graduating from college, I read a book that changed my life: The Power of Myth. a series of interviews Bill Moyers did with mythologist and scholar Joseph Campbell in 1987. The influence that book had on me will last until the day I die.
More importantly, the book helped me realize the power of the interview. The stories people share in a question and answer format have an easy way of transforming complex topics into understandable nuggets of wisdom. Interviewing helps me gain a greater depth of understanding, and hopefully someone else can benefit by reading them.
Below are the most important bits of wisdom I learned from six interviews in 2015. The common theme among them all? Be an expert at building relationships:
March, 2015 - Fredonia's diving team on coping with fear
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| From left, Jeff Matter, Heather Colby, Meghan Bartlett, and Arron Carlson |
Fredonia's diving team has turned out so many All-Americans that a trip to NCAA Championships has become an annual ritual. In a tremendously frightening sport, the best divers tend to be the ones who cope best with their fears.
The team takes a yearly training trip to Florida in January and on one of the first days of 2015, senior Heather Colby suffered an injury that put her in a neck brace for the next two months:
The team takes a yearly training trip to Florida in January and on one of the first days of 2015, senior Heather Colby suffered an injury that put her in a neck brace for the next two months:
"Maloney: How do you deal with the fear involved in all this? Heather, I'd particularly like to hear from you because of what you've been through this year.
Colby: I've always gone nuts over adrenaline and when we were in Florida this year I wrecked my neck from 33 feet (10-meter diving board). I went back up afterwards ... and a wave of anxiety hit me. It was something I wasn't anticipating. The second I stepped up there...
Bartlett: I remember you sat down on the board and you were just holding your head.
Colby: My whole entire body was like, "Nope! Nuh Uh!" That was something I was never used to, being scared of heights. And (diving coach) Ryan (Fuller) would just not let me get away with it. He said he understood that I was going to be scared but that it would be baby steps. We took it jump by jump and I gradually got back into it and learned not to be afraid anymore. It was a surreal experience but I couldn't be happier that he didn't give up on me."
Every athlete is scared of something. Colby's re-entry into diving highlights a key purpose of the athlete-coach relationship: helping athletes lean into their fears.
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| From left: Brittany Feldman, Kim Foltz, Anna Dambacher, and Laura Morrison |
We got to talking about the mental state they need to be in to perform at their best. They described a meet in Boston in February which had so many Division I and professional athletes, all they could do was focus on their own performances, rather than winning. Anna Dambacher (pictured in the yellow shirt) contrasted that with SUNYAC Championships, where the pressure to win is immense:
"Maloney: So that mindset you all seemed to have when you were in Boston... how do you create that in your mind wherever you go? Isn't that the goal?
Anna Dambacher: The way to create the atmosphere from Boston is to keep getting better. That's it. Once you have confidence and you feel really good it's easier to build off of. Now the things we struggle with seem easier and you're just focusing on the bigger picture and it becomes easier to execute. The pressure comes off and you actually get to enjoy it."It was a surprising answer at the time, lending credence to the idea that action precedes confidence, rather than the other way around. (The Confidence Code is a good read on the subject)
May, 2015 - Diving coach John Crawford on "Servant Leadership"
Having grown one of the best Division III diving programs in the country, coaching 11 All-Americans in 12 years, it would be irresponsible not to get John Crawford's story.
I've shared the quote from this interview that still brings tears to my eyes, but there are enough pearls of wisdom in this one to continue contemplating for several years.
One has to do with the transformation coaches and teachers go through when they move into later parts of their careers:
"Maloney: So what is it that motivates you right now? Has it changed over time?
Crawford: It's definitely changed. I think it's changed into serving others. There's a business concept called, "Servant Leadership." I can summarize it as this: "How can I help you today?"
Maloney: How can you help?
Crawford: Right. I'll often ask it to the divers: "How can I help you today? Is there anything that I can do for you?" Did I have that at the age of 22 when I started? No. But eventually if you're a good teacher you find yourself going into that mode."If there's one interview I'll always keep handy, it's Crawford's.
September, 2015 - Women's volleyball coach Geoff Braun on balancing family with his coaching career
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| Geoff Braun has been the women's volleyball coach at Fredonia for 17 years |
Having worked under him for a decade, I've come to know Braun better than most.
From when we met in 2005, to marrying his wife, Kate, in 2011, and three children later, a lot has transpired in 10 years. We learn from each other every day informally, but it took a sit-down interview for him to explain his work-life balance.
Rather than one taking away from the other, family life and coaching can actually help "build appreciation both ways":
From when we met in 2005, to marrying his wife, Kate, in 2011, and three children later, a lot has transpired in 10 years. We learn from each other every day informally, but it took a sit-down interview for him to explain his work-life balance.
Rather than one taking away from the other, family life and coaching can actually help "build appreciation both ways":
Maloney: Has coaching become more difficult?
Braun: It’s a give and take. Some things become more difficult in coaching and some things become easier. It’s more difficult to balance and manage your time, but it’s exactly what we ask our athletes to do. You have to be organized. I’m also more patient now.
Maloney: With our players?
Braun: Yeah. I have a lot more patience.
Maloney: But how do you take care of everyone? Three kids and 16 players is a lot. You’d think they take away from each other.
Braun: Gosh, that’s tough. I think it builds appreciation both ways. I appreciate my kids more. I appreciate the athletes more. You cherish the time you have with them. It’s cliché, but time goes by so quick. That’s the same with your children and your athletes. Four years goes by really fast and you can’t wait until their junior year to try to make a connection.
October, 2015 - English professor Theodore Steinberg on taking control of your education
Still the best professor I had in four years of undergraduate and two years of graduate school, Ted Steinberg speaks with authority about human education.
He spoke passionately here about the self-inflicted malady of obsessing over grades and of finding a career you'll love, The most practical piece of advice he shared, though, was something every college student would do well to remember:
"Steinberg: ... You'll get the kind of education you put into it.
Maloney: But do the students have control over that?
Steinberg: Yes, professors here are accessible. I was always amused when students would come to my office and say, "am I bothering you?" I'd say, "no, this is my job!" Take advantage of talking to your professors.
Maloney: What do the students get out of that?
Steinberg: It establishes that personal contact with the teacher. There has to be that real human contact. Professors are open to this kind of thing. It makes the student a participant in the education rather than just an observer."
October, 2015 - Business professor Susan McNamara on why you, too, are an entrepreneur
While still in college, I had a mentor who told me how I should split up my reading: "Spend 33% of your time reading something technical (coaching books), 33% for fun, and 33% about business development."
I loved the idea, except for the business development part. I was uncomfortable with the idea of being a "businessperson" But the more I've grown and expanded the view of what I do in the world, I feel more and more like a small-business owner every day, coaching at Fredonia. I feel like an entrepreneur.
Dr. Sue McNamara confirmed what I'd been feeling for a long time:
Maloney: One of Fredonia's missions is entrepreneurship, but I don't think it's just for business majors.
McNamara: Not at all.
Maloney: So how are we encouraging entrepreneurship in all our students?
McNamara: Take your volleyball team for instance. Say you're missing your setter(s) for some reason. How are we going to take your team with the players you have and find a solution to our missing setter(s)? We're going to have to use everyone's talents to come up with an innovative solution. That's entrepreneurship. Maybe we need to train someone else, or maybe we need to change our whole strategy.
Maloney: It sounds like entrepreneurship encompasses everything.
McNamara: ... There's some outcome we're looking for. In your world you want to win matches. And you define the other goal of creating a sense of community and purpose. So how do you constantly measure that, and what have we done to create that?"Of course I'm behind in my business reading by now, but the best business books I've found in recent months are The E-Myth Revisited, To Sell Is Human, and Start With Why.