A Gold Medal Mindset with Kent Steffes

Key Points, Top Takeaways and Memorable Quotes - “Irrespective of what your political opinions might be, nevermind, what they are, it’s always great to see, like leaders, natural leaders.” 7:16 “Being an Olympic Gold Medalist and player, I like winners.  Even in politics, I like winners, both sides.  You don’t have to like someone’s politics to like how good they are.” 7:42“So there’s really only two reasons why you lose a volleyball match; you’re better and you lose or they’re better and you lose.” 19:30“If you want to be the world’s best beach volleyball player, I say it all the time, ok, you hit it where they’re not.” 27:07“So you wanna get 25% better, stop looking at the ball.” 28:21“You’re not trying to dig the ball, you’re trying to get in the right spot.” 29:31“There’s nothing that happens to you that's not normal and natural.” 32:35“If you try to run away from that, you’re kind of running away from yourself, and I don’t know if that’s gonna work.” 35:57“It’s not what happens to you, it’s how you interpret it that will get you in trouble all the time.” 40:17“My dad got me to the coaches that were gonna make me better.” 46:03“Competitive greatness is wanting to be there at that moment.” 55:36 Guest Bio - Kent Steffes is one of beach volleyball’s all time greats.  Hw earned the AVP No. 1 ranking at age 22, the youngest player to do so in the history of the sport.  Steffes and Karch Kiraly won the inaugural beach volleyball gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics.  Steffes' career lasted from 1988 until 1999, and in 2020 was inducted into the USA Volleyball Hall of Fame as All-Time Great Male Beach Player Award.Steffes graduated from UCLA in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2000 he enrolled in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford, where he graduated in 2002. He has two children and lives in Los Angeles where he writes and works in the financial industry.Steffes is the co-author of the book Kings of Summer: The Rise of Beach Volleyball, which chronicles the rise of beach volleyball from a 1970s rebel culture to inclusion in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Show Notes - 0:00 - WIMTS Intro0:32 - Introducing Kent Steffes0:53 - Welcome to Kent1:24 - AVP Beach Volleyball in Fresno During the 90’s3:59 - Background in California Politics 7:52 - Attributes of a Winner & Role of MainStream Media11:26 - Where Do You Get Your News?13:40 - 1996: 1st Year for Beach Volleyball in the Olympics 15:45 - Two Best Friends Become Mortal Enemies21:42 - Playing with Karch Kiraly & How to Raise a Champion23:30 - My Kids Play Softball & Football24:02 - Training Competition with Your Kids32:04 - BB Commercial32:13 - Preparation & Acceptance of Anxiety41:28 - Sports are Challenging & Teach Us How to Handle Adversity42:50 - Fascinated with Winning44:53 - Role of Better Coaching48:58 - Concept of Ego Death50:59 - Playing Free & Practicing56:13 - Miles Partain & AVP Ranks57:53 - Stanford Business School & Beach Volleyball Business Plan1:03:20 - Beach Volleyball Player Personalities1:06:37 - Business Plan Can Work for Any Olympic Style Sport1:09:14 - Streaming of Beach Volleyball & College Sports1:13:10 - Kent’s Ideal Sports Podcast & Sports Lessons1:15:09 - One Piece of Advice1:19:30 - Where Can People Find You?1:20:52 - WIMTS Closing Links & Where to Find Kent - Book: Kings of Summer by Kent Steffes & Travis MerwhirterNews Sources: Colonel Cassad; Telegram; The S