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The Best Ever Podcast with Scott Eblin is your insider’s guide to what it takes to lead at the highest level at work, at home, and in your community. Each week, Scott sits down with remarkable leaders for real, revealing conversations about the mindset shifts, self-management habits, and everyday routines that fuel extraordinary leadership impact. Drawing on his 25 years of experience as a top executive coach, Scott brings a coach’s lens to every episode to help you bridge the gap between intention and action.
Scott - 00:00:10:
Welcome to Best Ever, the show where we explore how effective self-management creates the foundation for positive leadership outcomes. I'm Scott Eblin, and in every episode, I sit down with notable leaders to uncover the routines, mindset shifts, and strategies that have helped them lead at the highest level, and the difference that's made for their organizations, families, and communities. Today I'm talking with an objective winner in every sense of the word, Dain Blanton. Dain is an Olympic gold medalist in beach volleyball and has been a champion and MVP at every level of the game, high school, college, professional and international. Today, he's the head coach of the four-time consecutive national championship winning women's beach volleyball team at the University of Southern California. When he's not coaching, you'll find Dain on the sidelines as a reporter for the NBC Olympics broadcast team and speaking to audiences around the world. Dain, you're the perfect person to talk about the connection between effective self-management and championship-level outcomes in sports, on the air, and in life. And I'm excited to have you on Best Ever. Welcome to the show.
Dain - 00:01:17:
Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. I've been looking forward to this.
Scott - 00:01:20:
Oh, cool. Me too. I'm very much looking forward to this. We've had some really cool guests, but you are my first Olympic gold medalist. So I'm going to say first and only for season one, at least. So I appreciate it, man.
Dain - 00:01:31:
Nice. Thank you. I hope I don't disappoint.
Scott - 00:01:34:
I don't think you will. I don't think you will. So speaking of the Olympics, you've been coached or have been a coach for nearly your entire life, you know, from high school through college to the Olympics to pro volleyball, to being the first and only coach to lead the USC women's beach volleyball team to four consecutive national championships. You've got, for those watching on YouTube, Dain, you've got your national champs for Pete shirt on referencing your, your team, the Trojans. So you've spent your entire life around coaches and now as a coach yourself. I'd love to hear your take on what are the characteristics of a great coach? What makes a great coach?
Dain - 00:02:13:
You know what? For me, I think I always resonated to the coach that was consistent, right? In college, I probably had my best coach ever, which was a gentleman by the name of Marv Dunphy. He was the head coach of the 1988 Indoor National Beachball- Indoor National Team. And he was, when I went to Pepperdine under him, I learned so much. And he's even a mentor to this day. But I'll tell you what, he was always consistent. And he didn't have to raise his voice. He didn't have to yell. He really instilled in the players the fact that... You wanted to live up to his expectations that he set out for you. So if the players didn't play to a certain level, they... They only almost felt like, you know, you disappointed the coach. You know, you wanted to play for him that bad. You wanted to play for not only the coach, but your teammates, the university. But it all started with him and his consistency. He did his dissertation on John Wooden, and I think he took, you know, a lot of that style. And I've tried to implement that style in my coaching nowadays, but there's no question about it. It's the consistency that the athlete's looking for. If you know what you're going to get from your coach, you're going to play for him.
Scott - 00:03:35:
I love it. So for those in the younger cohorts. Tell us who John Wooden was. I know, you know, but maybe some folks don't know. And talk about Wooden and the connection back to the consistency theme that Marv Dunphy had and that now you carry on as a coach.
Dain - 00:03:54:
Yeah, well, John Wooden was arguably the best collegiate basketball coach of all time, coached at UCLA.
Scott - 00:04:03:
Ten national championships, I think, at UCLA.
Dain - 00:04:06:
Ten national championships, exactly. And he was kind of the gold standard. And so many quotes and so much history with John Wooden. But, you know, on day one every year of coaching, he would teach his players the simple task of how to lace up their shoes. And how to do that properly, because that's basically where it started. Starting at that simplest thing and then moving up to the complexities. He had his Pyramid of Success. He is just, he's kind of the gold standard. There's so much to learn from a coach like John Wooden, but he was extremely consistent.
Scott - 00:04:48:
Yeah. So what's your version of the shoelaces lesson? You know, you're, you're a four-time national championship coach yourself. How do you... Think about consistency in your job and how does that manifest in your job?
Dain - 00:05:03:
Yeah, it's interesting on the beach and beach volleyball, you play pairs. So you get out there. Sometimes you're with a coach. Sometimes you're without a coach. So, you know, to parallel the shoes, I try to really prepare the athlete to bring everything to the court that they need. You know what I mean? Don't rely on anybody else. It's interesting at the collegiate level in beach volleyball, and we might get into this a little bit later. But we have... 10 players, five starting pairs. My five pairs play your five pairs. And whoever wins three out of five wins what we call the duel. So you're in this team of 20 on our roster. But when you go to compete and get on the court, you're just you and your partner and sometimes with your coach. So I really teach the athlete to get out there and being able to battle and being able to prepare. And take care of themselves. Because there's times we only have three coaches. It's an interesting situation. We have three coaches and five teams playing. Sometimes we play in flights where we can coach them all. Sometimes it's all five at once where we have to pick who we're with. So really equipping the athlete to work in the team concept, but also to go out there in their pair and be able to be successful and be independent.
Scott - 00:06:26:
What is it about taking care of yourself on the court? What does that mean to you and your athletes?
Dain - 00:06:34:
Well, you got to manage the system. You know, you get out there. Some games are going poorly. So what do you do? Maybe you go fix the sideline. Maybe you ask the ref for a little cloth to clean your glasses. You control the pace of it. Sometimes if things are going well, maybe you're trying to speed up the pace of it. But you dictate what's going on out there. Don't think that you're getting out on the court and things are happening to you. You got to understand they're happening because of you. And I really try to instill in that that they're in control of what's going on out there. Even though we don't control the result, we really focus on the process of... Execution. And hopefully that result goes our way.
Scott - 00:07:20:
That's so fascinating because one of the questions I wanted to ask you is related to... And help me get my facts right here. Four consecutive national championships. I know for sure you're the only USC team to do that, right?
Dain - 00:07:35:
I believe so. Otherwise, you'd have to go way, way back. There might have been a water polo squad that pulled it off.
Scott - 00:07:43:
But it's pretty rare. Not many guys are wearing four-peat t-shirts like you. What? To the control, what you can control, you know, pick... Control the pace, you know, take the break if you need to take the break. A little break, micro break, or speed it up if you can speed it up and you think that's to your advantage. I was going to ask you, when it comes to your coaching, what's the ratio between coaching for technique and coaching for mindset?
Dain - 00:08:14:
Interesting. Those two things are so big, right? They're huge. And so most practices, I start with five minutes of meditation and five minutes of visualization. So you've got to understand the student athletes have so much on their mind. They're taking 16 to 20 units of school. They're coming from a class. They're coming from a weightlifting session. So not only do I use that five minutes to prepare and visualize, but it's also kind of a reset for them as they come into practice and get their mind in the right place to do something for the next hour and a half. I think that ritual and that... That technique of using five minutes to really reset yourself is paramount. It's huge. And it can change everything. So not only do we do that when we are practicing, we also do that when we are competing. And the other component that you talked about is the technical side. I'm a very technical coach. I believe that if you have techniques, you can always fall back on those techniques. Something's going wrong. I'm passing the ball poorly. Okay. I need my platform and my arms out a certain way. I got to watch the ball all the way in. We always say this quote, and I think you probably heard it before, but it's a military quote that says that we don't... Rise to the occasion, we fall to the level of our training. So when you're out there, a lot of people think, hey, it's going to be this big event. I'm going to the Olympics. I'm going to this championship. I'm going to turn it on. I'm going to go to this higher level. Most people don't go to that higher level. They usually fall to where that level of training is. So the further you bring up that level of training, the less they fall because they're equipped with these tools and ready to go. So, that breeds a level of confidence that most of my players have that, hey, I've trained this. I know how to do it. Sure, I missed one or two, but nothing changes. I go back to that technique, and that keeps me stable.
Scott - 00:10:32:
So do you think that the technique, does it almost become an automatic, kind of thing? Is that the goal?
Dain - 00:10:38:
Yeah.
Scott - 00:10:38:
Yeah.
Dain - 00:10:39:
Yes. You know, at first it's very, I guess, robotic and you're thinking of everything. And then as you progress, you get to the point to where it's second nature. It's just the way you do something. So the way a player, an athlete would be doing something in the fall when school started, as opposed to in the spring, when the season comes around, should be, if I'm doing my job, it should be this huge level of increase and comfort and confidence and also competence that, hey, I can do this. I can handle it. Hey, they're a tough server over there. I'm going to implement my technique. I'm fine. They're a huge blocker in my face. That's all right. I can just roll shot over them. And I have something to counter just about every situation that I run into.
Scott - 00:11:28:
Well, it sounds like at that point, the technique has become so foundational that the mindset takes over. Is that kind of it?
Dain - 00:11:37:
Yeah, I mean, it becomes foundational. It becomes kind of a non-thought that you're not thinking about when you go, like in basketball, you're not thinking about that free throw. You go to the free throw line and you do your thing.
Scott - 00:11:51:
Yeah.
Dain - 00:11:52:
And the same kind of deal. You go back to serve in volleyball. You get to the point where you don't have to think about it. You just do it. You do it automatically. And that takes so many repetitions.
Scott - 00:12:05:
You said every practice and before every competition, there's a consistency theme again. You're doing five minutes of meditation and then five minutes of visualization. What's the meditation routine? You like or look like.
Dain - 00:12:22:
Yeah, you know, it changes. Sometimes I'll give them guidance in the meditation or a topic. You know, some days we're just we're focusing on gratitude, you know, on being on that court, on that team, part of this university, having the teammates that we have. Other times I might say, hey, what's one thing that you're going to have to change if we're going to win a championship this year and then focus on that one thing. Other times, and I use this a lot when I was competing, I would just create a highlight reel of myself in my head. And obviously, if you're creating it, you can you can make whatever you want up. So you're being so successful. You're playing great defense. You're hitting the ball straight down. You're blocking people off the court. And then you know how it is. Your mind doesn't know the difference between some of your thoughts and what is reality. So I feel like when I get in that game situation, if I've done the visualization, I put the headphones on and listen to my my favorite tune and did this highlight reel, my body's ready to go. And so to answer your question. It changes, right? You know, the gratitude, the improvement, the highlight reel. Maybe you face a difficult situation. Hey, you've just gotten a really bad call. How are you going to react? You know what I mean? Are you going to panic? Are you going to give away another four points? Or are you going to put that play in the past and say, hey, what's my next action?
Scott - 00:13:57:
Yeah, what's next? Break it down for me a little bit between meditation and visualization, because when you talk about the highlight reel. That sounds more like a visualization routine or exercise as opposed to think about this one thing, you know, which is really more meditative, right? How do you think about the difference between the two and for your team? When they're switching from five minutes of meditation to five minutes of visualization, what's the difference for them?
Dain - 00:14:26:
Yeah, and sometimes it's that theme of visualization. Other times it is that meditation. We work on a lot of breathing techniques and really relaxing yourself so you can be in a calm state. I would put that more in the meditative box. And then there are days that we do more visualization or focus on technique. But definitely two separate things. They do happen in a similar environment though, right? We let them spread out along our facility, lay down in the sun. It's quiet. We either have like a meditative song going or on the speakers, something to get them in kind of a relaxed state, whether they're in visualization practice or in the meditative state. And so all those things are the same, but within that, you're absolutely right. There's the visualization at times, and sometimes it's just straight, hey, let's focus on our breathing for the next five minutes. And let's try to slow down our breathing with really long breaths and long exhale, filling up the chest and the belly, and then the exhale. And if you can think of, hey, try to have six or seven breaths only during about a minute, you're really focusing on slowing down that pace and getting prepared for what's to come.
Scott - 00:16:00:
Yeah, and my- When I was writing my book, Overworked and Overwhelmed, I... I read a lot of the research about fight or flight and rest and digest, you know, the sympathetic response and the parasympathetic response. And that meditative breathing kind of activates the rest and digest response, like physiologically, right? Are you trying to get, like, literally get their heart rate down? Uh, just. Making some physiological changes within them so that they're in the most relaxed physical state? Is that part of the goal?
Dain - 00:16:33:
Yeah, that is part of the goal of that reset, right? A lot of times they've come from lifting weights. They've come from a class. They've come from a test. They've ridden their bike over to the court. And now they're shifting gears. So I think that puts almost a real literal break of, okay, here I'm walking into a different element. I'm here to get ready for practice, to go 100%, to take it to another level. And I think we sometimes go throughout the whole day and we never slow down and stop until we go to bed at night. And even then that might be part of the routine. So I think it's really important to have these almost chapters during the day where you can stop down and say, hey, I'm shifting gears or walking in. It's like when, you know, say you just had this interaction with your teacher and he said, you got to bring this grade up. And then you take that with you to the volleyball court to practice. And you're in a state that is not conducive to success. It's like going into an interview, right? You almost want to, if you're running and you're in traffic and you're late and then you park the car and you run in and you walk into this interview, it's tough to stop down.
Scott - 00:17:56:
Yeah.
Dain - 00:17:56:
Yeah. So even in a situation like that, I tell them, hey, it's okay to take that five minutes. It's probably better to take that five minutes and be a few minutes late than to rush in in the mindset and the state that you're in. So it's kind of a recognition of a stop down.
Scott - 00:18:13:
All right. So I have to resist the urge from completely geeking out on visualization and meditation because I could do that for the entire time we have scheduled. So I'm going to move on. But thank you for sharing all that. I find that fascinating. And it has so much application, I think, to life outside of sports, you know, because anybody in any performance situation, you're going to do a much better job, one, if you've got the techniques down, right? The foundational thing. And then get your mind in the right place, that relaxed state where you control your pace. So many of the things you shared just now, I think, are applicable outside of the realm of you know, high level. Athletic competition. So I'm going to share something I learned on Wikipedia because anybody watching this on YouTube isn't going to believe it. You're 53 years old. You certainly don't look like you're 53. Am I right? Is Wikipedia right?
Dain - 00:19:05:
They're right.
Scott - 00:19:05:
Okay, Wikipedia is always right. So you are, let's say, 30 plus years older than your players who are, I guess, are Generation Z. How do you lead in a way that resonates with folks that are a couple of generations, maybe a generation and a half younger than you? How do you connect with, because a lot of leaders have to do this, right? Not just in coaching. How do you connect with? Folks that are a good bit decades younger than you. Make it feel like a team.
Dain - 00:19:37:
You know, that's a great question. It is very challenging to relate three decades prior. But I always, you know, I try to get even with them on their level. And one thing that... Really has helped me over my six years as a head coach here at USC is I have an open door policy so that the athlete can come in without scheduling a meeting and sit down and chat. And the more that I open up that communication, the more of kind of common ground we can create a relationship on. And then that helps tremendously when we get out and we start coaching. There's a level of respect, I think. A lot of the players know I went to the Olympics. I played at the highest level. And a lot of them want that level. So they're willing initially, you know, to listen to what I have to say. And so it's all about, you know, at that point saying, hey. I want to figure out what it takes to get to that level. Here's a coach who's proven himself as a coach, but not only that, he's proven himself as a player and he knows the secret sauce to get to that level. And so the more players, and I always say it, like I get a player that just wants to be the best college athlete, someone who wants to be the best pro athlete, someone who wants to take it all the way to the Olympic. I don't care where you want to take it, but if you come here, I'm going to try to get the most potential out of you. I want you to reach that potential. And so as we're back and forth in different instances, different conversations. I'm instilling that trust and creating a relationship. So when we get out on the court and we're talking about real technical stuff, they already have a trust in that has to be built over time. Like I think in the fall, when we all show up from, you know, they're coming from high school or their new, new player that's transferred. We have to take it slow, uh, establish a relationship. And I really like to give the players autonomy in terms of. This is their team. This is their ownership. If you ever get to the point as a coach and the players know it, that you want it more than they do, you're in trouble. Because it's like you were that parent who said, you know, hey, love for you to play basketball, right? What's the kid going to do? He's going to play every sport but basketball. So, you know, you want to make sure, hey, this is your team. I'm helping you guys guide this team, but you guys control it. And then a lot of the issues that you have internally are worked out amongst the players. And that helps. That really has helped tremendously. I mean, we never set out to win four national championships in a row. We've set out to win one at a time. One year at a time, reset. As soon as you start thinking, hey, I'm going to win 10 in a row or whatever, you're going to lose pretty quick probably. But you have to stay. Stay extremely hungry. You reset every year's of different team and college is like a revolving door, right? The freshmen are coming in and before you know it, they're going out as seniors and things have gotten complex lately. There's the portal. There's a lot of name, image, and likeness. There's, you know, the players can get paid. There's a lot of different distractions now. But at the end of the day, it's coaching. It's creating a relationship. It's trying to give the tools to the player so they can be successful. And I think we've... We've done that, but I continue to learn stuff every day. And not every athlete is going to respond. You know, it's a challenge. I think one of the biggest challenges, as you're saying, relating to this generation is some of them, and this is the hard thing about coaching, is you have to sift through that. Some athletes, when they get recruited and we make a deal, they love putting on their sweatshirt that says USC and going on Instagram. And at that point, some of them have won, right? They're like... I've made it. Whereas you don't want that player. You want the players like, oh, this is the beginning. I'm just putting this on. I'm representing. I'm really glad to be going to this university, but the work is just about to begin.
Scott - 00:24:23:
How do you screen for that when you're recruiting? Instagram is the ultimate goal versus I want to win championships or do this for the next 10 years of my life at the highest level.
Dain - 00:24:36:
Yeah, it's challenging and I'm learning everybody's totally different because a lot of players will tell you that, hey, they tell you what you want to hear. So you kind of sift through it by giving it to them honestly. Like, hey, you're a big fish in a small pond right now and now you're going to come here. You're going to look to your right and your left. You're going to have multiple players that are all-stars, that are all-Americans. How are you going to respond to that? And usually right away, either tense up or they become very relaxed and they're like that's, that's exactly what, you want the player that says that's exactly what I want. I want that competition, it's going to raise my level to a whole another level in the player, and I have them to this day that would rather be the star. And play on the number one pair, yet their team lose, that's the player you need to get rid of very quickly. And so we've had some situations where players or, you know, sometimes we get players that are actually pretty good players, but they're not making our lineup. And I want them to have a great college experience. So sometimes in that case, we'll look for another school with them or help them out if they want to go elsewhere. But we've built this squad and this program on, hey, we're going to try to recruit the best players. We're going to try to compete at our facility in practice harder than anybody else. So we're battle tested when we get out there on the court. And that has given us a huge edge.
Scott - 00:26:19:
A lot of the listeners of this show are leaders. Companies, leaders in public sector agencies, folks that have teams. Ideally, you want to recruit the very best people you can find, even with you as a four-time championship coach. You don't always get it right. There are people you recruit that have to leave the team, right? And you kind of alluded to that. Sooner or later? Which one, like at what point do you try to make a determination that this person, this woman isn't a fit? Because what I see with a lot of leaders in the corporate world is they wait too long. To make the call, you know, and so I'm kind of looking to hear a little bit of insight from you about how do you think about when is the right time to make that call, that they're a fit or not a fit?
Dain - 00:27:10:
Yeah, you know what? I always think that sooner is better than later. It's difficult, right? These are difficult conversations, difficult situations that you have to deal with with a player if their end of the road at this program is apparent and that they need to go elsewhere. The challenging thing is it's difficult in collegiate athletics. We only have a limited amount of scholarships, and usually when we sign scholarship deals, they're four-year deals. So a lot of times it's difficult to... Get rid of an athlete, even if they're there, you know, we may still end up paying their scholarship and it put the team kind of in a tough situation, but. I think regardless, if someone is... For lack of a better term, cancerous on the team, you need to treat that immediately. And I've seen, I've been in situations with this team where you eliminate one and it's like addition by subtraction. Totally. All of a sudden.
Scott - 00:28:21:
I see that all the time with my client teams.
Dain - 00:28:25:
Yeah. All of a sudden, two or three of the other players. Are 10 times better than they were. Because you got this-
Scott - 00:28:33:
They were being drugged down.
Dain - 00:28:34:
This personal- Yeah, exactly.
Scott - 00:28:36:
Yeah. That actually leads to a question I wanted to ask, either from your standpoint, as we've talked about a little bit already, you were a gold medalist in beach volleyball in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Coached dozens and dozens of high-level athletes at USC. Apart from the athletic skills, we talked about technique earlier. Put that aside. Let's say that that's where you need it to be. What makes for a great playing partner? You know, like... You're in pairs, like you said earlier. Yeah. That's a real bond. You can see it when you watch the Olympics and you're on the sideline for NBC. You can watch it, how tight some of those pairs are. And sometimes they're not so tight, but they make it work anyway, right? What makes a great playing partner once the athletic skills are in place where they need to be?
Dain - 00:29:27:
Yeah, that's a great question because here at USC, with this program, we have nutritionists, strength and conditioning coach, sports psychologist, our coaching staff, everything is accounted for. But one of the biggest things that we do is with our sports psychologist is go over, she calls it twinship, right? How you work as a pair. And so it's fascinating, all the components, right? Sometimes you put a player with another player and then another player and another player and they don't make anybody better. And sometimes you put a player out on the court and they make everybody better. And it's hard to find those almost intangibles, like, why is this player always winning and this other player isn't, you know, even though the other players actually might be a little more skilled. And I think what it is that makes you a great pair, great chemistry on the court is knowing what your partner needs, right? Because everyone's going to struggle. Hey. I'm passing the ball poorly. What do I need to do as a partner? Maybe I'm going to take more court and minimize the real estate that you're covering. And now that's going to make the opponent change their strategy because now they wanted to serve you, Scott. And now I've. I've scooted over and I'm taking more court. So that can put you at ease. Hey, look, my partner is stepping up. He knows I'm struggling. He's stepped up. Now I can reset and get back into the game. Also, if something goes wrong, I'm struggling, I'm hitting the ball out. How am I responding as a partner to that situation? Am I, you know, kicking rocks and kicking the sand or am I supportive? And I am I putting my partner at ease, therefore making them, you know, a better player in this tough time. And I think it's an art, you know, to be a good partner, to listen, to know what your partner needs in the in the trenches, you know, because you can't, you can't, it's hard to come up with the schemes real time in the situation. You kind of have to know, hey, you know what? Scott's taking care of it. He's my partner. I don't need to get on him. I already know he's already on himself. Right. Or maybe you're the type that's like, hey, man, get me fired up. You know, I'm struggling or let's bring it. Let's get a louder. So kind of knowing that, and, you know, there is a element of, of acting when you're an athlete, you know, and it's, it's, it's, it's almost like when you're not doing well on the court, you can still bring fire. You can still bring effort. You can, we say, fake it till you make it. Right. Or you can, you can show that you're emotional and you're embarrassed, you know, someone hits a ball out and they, in tennis and they look at the racket, right. Or they fall and they look at the, their, their foot or whatever, instead of, you know, it's you, it's not just the, it's not your hand, it's not your foot, it's you, you aren't paying attention. And so. I think not only knowing what your partner needs and being able to respond to that, but also setting that high level of effort and expectation out there. Because it is like poetry and emotion watching a good partner.
Scott - 00:32:59:
It totally is. Yeah, it's amazing.
Dain - 00:33:01:
They complement each other. They have the chemistry, and it's awesome.
Scott - 00:33:03:
Yeah. So I have to ask this question because it's one of my rare opportunities to talk with an Olympic gold medalist, tracking back to 2000 when you… We're on the center of the podium and the medals hung around your neck and the national anthem is playing. What's that feel like?
Dain - 00:33:22:
It's surreal. I mean, when that ball went down, you know, and I wish I would have been able to do this more in my career. But when we went to Sydney, Eric Fonoimoana and myself, we said, listen. One's really given us a chance we're the ninth seed out of 24 teams let's just play one point at a time as hard as we can let's let's have the effort there because we were we weren't the greatest probably at anything we were really good at everything but we weren't like the best blocker or the best server but I think the thing that made us really strong was we worked out a lot. We were the strongest team. We were going to outlast you. We were in this state of just, and I don't know if you've ever seen the final point, but. I was always about what's the next point? What's the next point? And when that ball hit the ground and Eric turns and he tackles me, I'm frozen kind of because I'm thinking like, there's, oh my gosh, there's no more points to win. It's over. And we were so laser focused on the next point. Like who cares what else? Everything else is actually noise. And I try to teach my players now. It's all about the next play. That's it. It doesn't matter what happened in the last play. It doesn't matter what the rankings are. It doesn't matter that they have, have 10 aces in this game. What are you going to do in this upcoming play? And so. When it happened, things started to slow down. They rolled out the carpet. They came out with these trays with these medals on them. And really, I was thinking I was dreaming. You know what I mean? And you're hoping that you don't wake up. Because for the first time ever, you are not competing for your high school, not competing for your college. You're competing for your country on a world stage. And I think that was so cool. A lot of your peers that you competed against, they are cheering for you. And people telling you the story when you got home that the neighbor called over to see if they were all right because they were yelling through the TV so loud. And it's one of those things. And you do so much speaking as well. But when I go to speak to, whether it's a high school, a corporation, I always bring the medal because I think it's all of our medal, right? You want it as a country. I love that. And I had never touched a gold medal in my life before touching the one that was mine. And so to share that. And I think everybody gets excited about a gold medal because it's so universal. It doesn't matter if you're five years old or 55 years old. You're like, wow, I know what this level is. I know that this took a tremendous amount of work. And even with all that work, things still had to go your way to pull it off.
Scott - 00:36:11:
Yeah, that's awesome. Thanks for indulging me on that. So... So, you mentioned your public speaking just a second ago. We talked a little bit about your work for NBC. You used to be a sideline reporter for the Clippers for a number of years in the NBA. You're doing Pro beach volleyball broadcasting. Where do the routines and skill sets between coaching and broadcasting overlap and where are they unique?
Dain - 00:36:39:
Wow, that's interesting. Broadcasting is, people always say, what's the order that you like it? Number one, you want to be a player. Number two, I think you want to be a coach. Number three, I think it's the broadcasting. As a broadcasting, you're trying to get the story, but you know what the athlete's feeling. Most athletes are pretty protective of injuries or whatever's going on with them. But I think it's about preparation, right? At the end of the day, are you prepared broadcasting? As a sideline reporter, you want to have eight to 10 stories that you're ready to tell. And then you got to research those stories and fact check those stories. So it's a tremendous amount of work. Whereas coaching every day, I'm trying to inspire my 20 athletes in any way possible. So it's... It's covering the same world, but- very different components of that world. And I love being on the court on a Sunday afternoon, playing in the championship. That's the pinnacle. Coaching would be next, but as a coach, you don't ever take any swings or dig any balls. It's the players that are out there doing it, but hopefully you can have a little motivation or play a small part in that player's success. Whereas the broadcasting is great. I think I used a lot of my player experience and my coaching experience as a broadcaster of knowing where my subject is coming from and trying to build that trust. Because the more, again, this comes back around, right? The relationship, the trust, you're going to tell me more about. You know, your knee injury or your strategy. If we have a relationship as a, you know, I'm a broadcaster, you're a player, but that relationship creates that trust. And then you can get maybe a deeper story, but, um, I don't know if I answer your question.
Scott - 00:38:49:
There's just one more kind of follow-up on a specific point. What about. Being an effective communicator. You know, like you have to communicate a lot as a coach. You're obviously broadcasting is all about communications. What are your biggest lessons learned about effective communications from either of those two roles, coaching or broadcasting?
Dain - 00:39:09:
I think the biggest thing is... Is being truthful and creating the trust and having the consistency. I think we're coming almost full circle to what we talked about in the beginning with Marv Dunphy, John Wooden. The consistency, if I know what I'm going to get from you as a coach, or I know that, hey, you're a reporter, I can tell you because you know what's going to be on the record and off the record, and I trust you. So that communication is huge. In every subject, it's a little, every subject in terms of every person that you deal with, that communication is going to be a little bit different. But the communication skills are everything. That's why. That's why I probably studied public relations when I was at Pepperdine because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. But I wanted to do something that I could apply no matter what field I ended up in. And I think, you know, I think I've become a pretty good communicator. I think you can constantly are learning because, like you said, these generations are experiencing something totally different. You know, these kids and student athletes were born in the 2000s. They don't know what life is without a cell phone. They don't know certain things. There's, you know, 20 screens around. We used to have the one screen and you had to hit the side of the TV, you know, to make it work. So, you know, times have changed. So I think you never, you almost have to continue to evolve as a communicator, especially dealing with teenagers.
Scott - 00:40:50:
My producer, Cece, and I were talking before you came on. She's a little bit older than your players. And we were talking that apparently they don't teach you how to read a watch or a clock in school anymore. So, you know, I've got a phone. Why do I need to know how to, yeah, you lose sight of how different it is. You juggle a lot of different roles. I mean, we just talked about two of them at great length, coach and broadcaster, public speaker. You mentioned you're a life partner. To a dear friend of my wife and myself, Mae McCaffrey. You're a dad of Cade. What's a typical week like for you? And I'm more interested, really, in how do you shift gears and show up? With the presence and energy that you need. And that each of those roles demands, you know, how do you shift gears between everything you do in the course of a day or a week?
Dain - 00:41:45:
Yeah, that's a really great question. And I think about that all the time. Like when you've had this long day at work and you're driving home, but you know you're going to bring so much joy when you get home and, you know, your partner, your son, my son, you know, Cade is just when he lights up and comes and gives you a hug. And then you're almost rejuvenated where you had no energy, but you know that. How important it is to be present. Like you said, you take this hat off as a coach and then you show up as a dad and a partner. And I think... I've created my environment that is so enjoyable that even when I'm fatigued or tired, that I almost get rejuvenated. It's like I was just on the road in Louisiana at LSU for four days, and you just can't wait to get home. To spend some time and just, and to be able to relax with the family. Uh, and then I tried to intersect those at times as well. They've been to all four of these national championships behind me. And it's funny this, this last year, Cade actually got in the picture, uh, the team picture that was produced, uh, cause he just feels so at home cause he had been so many times. So when I can intersect the two family and work, uh, you know, I love doing that. But it is challenging, but you think to yourself, you know, and you have grown kids yourself and you know how fast it goes by. When do you start thinking of... Hey, this isn't going to be this way much longer. They're going to graduate and get older. And I think that's what. I've looked at. Lately so much is like you hear it from other parents, but when you're experiencing it, you realize the time hanging out on the couch playing Roblox or some silly game. Those are the best of times.
Scott - 00:43:57:
Yeah.
Dain - 00:43:57:
And but in the moment, sometimes you don't think so. So, you know, you think like, hey, I'm just relaxing. But just to see the smile to like this morning when we dropped Cade off at school, we always drop him off every morning. And he says, Dad, can you walk me to class? And so, you know, Maeve and I have had this conversation before. It's like, as long as he's asking, you better do it because there's going to become that one day when things turn and he's not going to want to do it anymore. And that will be a part of history. It'll be lost. It'll you know, you can't go back to that time of him wanting that. And so I think as the years have gone by, you start to appreciate more. Hey, this this normal kind of mundane activity is what it's about.
Scott - 00:44:50:
Yeah.
Dain - 00:44:51:
Right now.
Scott - 00:44:51:
Totally.
Dain - 00:44:51:
Nobody at the time will look back on this and say, oh, my gosh, that was the coolest time. But sometime in the moment, you don't recognize it. And I think I've learned lately to recognize that more.
Scott - 00:45:03:
I love that. Is there anything that you've identified from your career as a player or a coach that informs the way you parent Cade?
Dain - 00:45:13:
I think the same thing. I think... Like everybody says, they're always watching, right? They might not, they're listening, they're watching. They might not do what you tell them to do, but I think they vibe off of your behavior and then they're going to start doing that. So the best thing is to model the behavior that you want. As a coach, if I fly off the handle, then the players think they can fly off the handle. And so as a parent, it's kind of the same way. You want to approach things, I think, level-headed. You want to be stern at certain times and more relaxed at other times, but you want to be modeling that behavior that you want them to turn into because you can talk the talk all you want, but they're going to do as they see in what you're doing. And I think I see that just the same with student-athletes that I coach.
Scott - 00:46:07:
Totally. That makes so much sense. So I've already spilled the beans at your 53. Obviously, that's the new 33 for you. What have you learned about aging gracefully? And I'd love if it resonates with you, are there physical, mental, relational routines, even spiritual routines that have... Helped you just proceed, proceed to the next play, as you say. We've talked about a bunch here gracefully and just keep living your life in a way that is fulfilling.
Dain - 00:46:41:
Rewarding. Yeah, you know, I think I do more meditation now or I'll take. Five or ten minutes out of the day to kind of to reset. But the way I look at aging, it's almost like. It's almost like there's someone behind you chasing you and they're trying to pull you back and to slow you down. And you got to kind of shake it off and keep moving. And that keep being moving means that you're functional. You're going to the gym. You're working out. You're staying healthy. You're eating correctly. And I think with all these jobs that we've talked about from speaking to sideline reporting to coaching, it's so easy to put yourself on the bottom and do all this stuff for the family, for your partner, for the team. And then at the end of the day, you're like, wait a minute, I didn't even get a workout in. And so I think over the last five years, I've fluctuated in probably the... A low point in my fitness. Um, but because of pushing down and, and, and pushing yourself to the, to the end of the line. And so I'm learning to stay ahead of that person that's grabbing you to slow down and stay healthy. And so that, you know, you can be around longer, but fitness and staying in shape has been a part of my life since I can remember. And a lot of times being an athlete, it's almost a default. You just go to the gym. You don't think about it. You're just doing all these things. Now I had to really focus on getting things done.
Scott - 00:48:27:
You say you've been more consistent, the guys not catching up with you so quickly these days. How do you fit it in? How do you fit in the workout with everything? Are you scheduling, you know, scheduled to Big Rocks first or? What's your process for making sure you get what you need?
Dain - 00:48:44:
Yeah, I think scheduling it, number one, and writing down, hey, this is my time to do it. I can work out when I'm at work, which is great because I'm in the athletics realm. But I think what's best is getting it done first thing in the morning, which is also a challenge. But knocking it out first and prioritizing, I think. In terms of even the big projects of, what do they say, eating that frog first, right? Eating the big project first, the other ones kind of come easy after that. But at the end of the day, and it's what I teach all of the players that come through here, is it's about discipline, right? It's about doing the thing that you might want. To skip on, but you know, it's the right thing to do. Just like, just like playing, you know what the technique is, even though your inclination is to do something else, do you have the discipline to do what is going to benefit you in the long run? And so it's, you know, I try to get out of saying, hey, there's not much time, enough time in the day, right? There's plenty of time in the day. You just have to prioritize it.
Scott - 00:50:01:
Yeah. Yeah, totally. So a couple of last questions. One just sort of procedural for folks who are listening in or watching us on YouTube. They want to keep up with the adventures of you and the USC women's beach volleyball team. What are the coordinates? Where should they follow you and the team if they'd like to online?
Dain - 00:50:22:
Yeah, online, I think we're most active in Instagram in this day and age for us. And it's at the at USC Beach. Just one word, no spaces there. And then at Dain Blanton is my personal. And it's pretty easy to follow along there. But that's where everything's at. I'm sure in five years, it'll be a different app.
Scott - 00:50:45:
Yeah, sure. That's where it is in 2025. My last question I like to ask every guest on Best Ever is what's been in your ears lately? In other words, what are you listening to that's inspiring or shaping your thinking or just making your life better?
Dain - 00:51:01:
You know, with Instagram, I think if you get the algorithm right, there's so much you can learn from there. And I love motivational stuff. I love listening to like David Goggins.
Scott - 00:51:14:
Oh, yeah. He's an ex-Navy SEAL guy, right?
Dain - 00:51:18:
Yeah. Ranger and all that.
Scott - 00:51:20:
Yeah, right.
Dain - 00:51:22:
He's a special individual, right? Like they don't make them like that. And. I think that provides motivation at times and just listening to stuff that's uplifting and listening to stuff that is beneficial for my health as well as, you know, you're always looking for new ideas, new approaches, new angles. So it's funny how a lot of people say, hey, social media, it's the downfall. It's how you use it, right? I think there's so much education and learning out there that can happen if used correctly. And that's what I've been trying to do.
Scott - 00:52:02:
So, Dain, thank you so much for taking time out of, obviously, what's an incredibly busy and demanding schedule to talk with me and to share everything that you shared with the listeners of Best Ever. There's a lot to learn here. And I really resisted the urge to interrupt you throughout saying, hey, if you're in business and you're listening to this, Here's the connection between what he's talking about and what's going on with you in your business life, because there was so much connection. Between what you said and what the listeners of this show, the audience for this show, really need to think about. You know, in terms of how to be more effective as leaders and the impact of effective self-management on. Leadership outcomes and... Like I said at the outset, you're the perfect person to talk with about this, and I really, really appreciate you. Doing that. For me and with our audience. So thank you.
Dain - 00:52:52:
Absolutely. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. And we got to do it again.
Scott - 00:52:56:
I'd love to. I'd love to. Great. Thanks so much, Dain. See you soon. So here are some of the coachable moments that landed with me from the conversation with Dain Blanton. First of all, There were so many great insights about... Leadership in an athletics context, in the context of being the coach of a national championship four times over, women's beach volleyball team in his own career. As an Olympian and a professional beach volleyball player. And you might think, well, that's just about sports. But there was so much that translates to life outside of sports and leadership and self-management outside of sports. And there's so many things that stood out for me. I'll just name three. First, and Dain started the conversation with this, for him, it's all about consistency. How do you win four national championships? I think he would probably tell you one play at a time, right? I mean, it's just like you've got to be consistent in getting the team ready for the next point or for the next play. And so not just every practice, but every competition begins with a five-minute meditation routine and five minutes of visualization to get his team. In the right headspace for the game. And they know to expect that. And so that becomes part of the routine. He talked about the great coach, John Wooden, who would begin every basketball season when he was head coach of UCLA back in the days of Bill Walton. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, previously Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The very first thing he would teach was how do you lace up your shoes? I mean, it feels basic. But it's like, you know, how do you put your arms out? To hit the ball back in volleyball. He's very consistent with teaching the techniques and then very consistent with getting his team in the right space mentally with the meditation and visualization. So the techniques become automatic. And what the variable might be is the mindset, but he's putting so much effort into getting them ready. For the right mindset for that practice or for that competition. So consistency is a big one. And I think if you think about how you apply, what are the opportunities? In your own leadership work, to be more consistent in the way that you lead and in the ways that you communicate, the routines that you put in place for your team, consistency in the way that you show up as a leader, really key principle. And I think one that cannot be overrated, really. Another big theme with Dain that completely applies to life outside of competitive sports is to control what you can control. I loved how he talked about how he coaches his players to get what they need when they're on the court, you know, in that competition. If it's going too fast for you, take a little micro break, pick up a towel, ask the ref or ask the official a question. Just give yourself a moment to gather yourself. Or if it's working for you and the pace is really working, stay on it. You know, keep pushing, keep pushing. Control what you can control. And when a mistake happens, move on to the next point. You know, it's like you talked about, you're the one that stepped on the line. You know, it wasn't just somebody's foot or somebody's hand. You know, you're the one that went out of bounds, right? So, okay, that happened. Let it go. Move on to the next point. And so that's an aspect of control which you can control. We hear that a lot in business and organizational life. But I thought he did a terrific job of breaking it down into looking for those little micro moments to get what you need. And I think that's a key element of controlling what you control. What do I need in this situation to be at my best? Let me go get a little bit of that. And then finally, the last of the three big points that I took away from Dain just here in the moment. Was When I asked him to talk about outside of the athletic skills, what makes a great partner, because beach volleyball is played in pairs, you have a partner. And his answer basically turned on the question of, What does your partner need? Are you in touch with what does your partner need to be successful, to be great, to be at their best? And, you know, what that translates to basically is empathy. Let me put myself in the shoes or in the head. Of my partner, my teammate. And just stop for a moment. It's not all about me. We're playing in pairs. We're playing on a team. What do they need to be successful so we can be successful together? And I don't think I need to tell you what the translation point is on that. To organizational life, it should be obvious. What does my partner need? What does my teammate need? Asking that question, and it's the old great line about there is no I in team. What does my partner need? And asking that empathetic question, taking that empathetic point of view frequently. Taking it often so that collectively you rise up. And achieve success. If you found the day's conversation valuable, be sure to follow Best Ever on your favorite podcast app. While you're there, please rate and review the show and maybe leave a comment. I want to know what's landing with you and your engagement really helps new listeners find the show. And if you're looking for more strategies on self-management and leadership, be sure to connect with me at eblingroup.com. Thanks for listening to Best Ever. And until next time, keep taking those small steps of self-management that we consistently applied lead to big and positive outcomes.