When the UCLA men’s volleyball team’s season ended in spring, coach John Speraw began planning for summer trips to Poland and Brazil. But instead of warm beaches, Speraw spent his days and nights indoors on the volleyball court.
After being named the head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Volleyball Team in March, Speraw began histhree-year journey leading to the 2016 Olympics this summer.
The team began the summer with a 4-6 record in the FIVB Volleyball World League, finishing in fifth place out of the six teams in Pool A and 12th out of 18 overall.
Speraw joined several former Bruins on the national team: setter Kyle Caldwell, outside hitter Garrett Muagututia and assistant coach Matt Fuerbringer. Despite the UCLA connections, the players and coaches made it clear that what mattered most was the red, white and blue.
“It’s obviously very fun to have old teammates, but at the same time we have guys from schools like USC and UCI,” said Caldwell, who graduated in 2012. “It doesn’t matter where you’re from, we just kind of bonded and we’re all playing for one country now.”
Though Speraw didn’t need to worry about collegiate rivalries, he was presented with a different problem. With professional players, their individual performances dictate how much money they’ll make, so players will often try to position themselves in the best situations possible.
“At the collegiate level, you say, ‘I want to run this offensive system,’ and everybody goes, ‘OK’,” Speraw said. “And then you’re at the professional level and everybody goes, ‘Well, I feel a little better when I do this and I’d rather do that.'”
To avoid problems, Speraw found that he had to be even more clear, precise and strong-voiced with his plans for the national team than he would have been with the UCLA team.
After about eight weeks with the national team, Speraw said that he is quickly learning to adjust to coaching a group of professionals from a variety of backgrounds. With this more experienced group, Speraw can focus more on the subtleties of the game and refinement, but he also has to pay more attention to the different personalities on the team.
“You always have to communicate quite a bit, but here I think you really have to make sure it’s a part of your plan everyday,” Speraw said. “You need to make sure you’re scheduling individual meetings and having individual plans for each player.”
While this has been a learning experience for Speraw, Fuerbringer was a familiar face pacing alongside him on the sidelines. Last year, Fuerbringer was a UCLA volunteer assistant coach under Speraw, and then he joined Speraw on the national team.
Unlike Speraw, Fuerbringer will not continue in his role at UCLA this season, electing to focus on just the national team.
“Both jobs are such a challenge that really grabs your attention and focus,” Fuerbringer said. “You need to have the ability to focus even after you’ve been working real hard all year because you’ve got to lead a team trying to win a national championship in UCLA.”
Because the UCLA volleyball season fits in perfectly with the scheduled downtime of the USA National team, Fuerbringer said he sees no reason why Speraw cannot focus on both volleyball programs. He also said that this challenge is an opportunity that can only benefit Speraw.
“I think it’s really only going to help him and make him a better coach,” Fuerbringer said. “He’s coaching that much more, getting more experience and brainstorming with the best coaches in the world.”
With all the international competition ahead, Speraw said he hopes to expose himself to a broader range of styles and philosophies – ideas that he can carry with him back to UCLA.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll be a much better volleyball coach through this experience,” Speraw said. “I’ve already learned more over the last eight weeks than I’ve learned over the last five years.”