If Gold Is Our Destiny, Sean P. Murray
If Gold Is Our Destiny, Sean P. Murray
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

If Gold Is Our Destiny
The 1984 U.S. Men's Volleyball Team and Its Quest for Olympic Glory

Author: Sean P. Murray, Karch Kiraly

Narrator: Chris Monteiro

Unabridged: 8 hr 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 07/12/2022


Synopsis

In the early 1980s, a golden generation of volleyball players joined the U.S. men's national team. With the Olympics coming to Los Angeles in 1984, the pressure was on to build a winning program around these exceptional athletes.

In If Gold Is Our Destiny, Sean P. Murray shares the incredible story of how a group of free-spirited players and their demanding coach captured the heart of a nation and became one of the greatest indoor volleyball teams of all time. As the team struggled leading up to the Olympics, head coach Doug Beal mandated a highly controversial three-week Outward Bound hike across one hundred miles in the Canyonlands and Abajo Mountains in Utah. Murray details all the internal strife and heartwarming triumphs from this unprecedented trip, as players and coaches learned to cooperate and trust one another. He reveals how the team used this newfound trust to implement an innovative approach to volleyball that changed not only their success on the court but the sport itself on a global scale.

Featuring original interviews with players, coaches, and staff, along with a foreword by three-time gold medal champion Karch Kiraly, If Gold Is Our Destiny delivers an inside look at what it takes for a group of talented individuals to overcome their differences, build a culture of excellence, and become the best in the world.

About Sean P. Murray

Sean Murray is the founder and president of RealTime Performance, a leadership training and organization development firm. With over twenty-five years of experience working with executive teams, his clients have included Apple, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Amazon, State Farm, Boeing, Marriott, PepsiCo, Vail Resorts, Starbucks, and others. Murray writes regularly at his blog, RealTime Performance, publishes a bi-weekly newsletter, "Murray on Leadership," and hosts The Good Life Podcast. Murray has created a companion workshop to If Gold Is Our Destiny that teaches timeless lessons on leadership and building a high-performance culture. He lives in Seattle, Washington.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Delaney on January 24, 2025

Great read before working with volleyball team. Karch is awesome!......more

Goodreads review by Glenn on July 13, 2022

Full disclosure - I had an editorial role and helped Sean bring his vision to the page, but the book is entirely his. His top notch and comprehensive reporting brings back to life one of the most extraordinary team achievements in American Olympic history, focusing on the groundbreaking “team buildi......more

Goodreads review by Francis on August 14, 2022

I played varsity volleyball in high school, college, and business school. I was a teenager in the 1980s when Karch Kiraly led the USA to two Olympic Gold Medals. This book describes their improbable path to victory. You've heard of the Miracle on Ice when the USA beat the USSR in ice hockey. This triump......more

Goodreads review by Warren on May 29, 2023

Great book! I’ve been involved with a lot of outdoors leadership/team development programs in the past, so seeing how the team developed during their wilderness program was really engaging! The climax of the book felt well deserved, exciting, and fulfilling. Great pacing on the story.......more