Reid Priddy, 4x Volleyball Olympian

Reid Priddy (0:00)

I get the thrill out of being at the very edges of my ability. The outcome is unknown, and I'm out there trying to do it. And to me, I've been on the best teams in the world. I've played for our version of the Yankees for a couple of years, where it got to where winning was an expectation, and it doesn't bring the best out of you.

And it was pressure-packed, because it was like, you win, you're supposed to. You lose, we've got major issues.

Michael Gervais (0:33)

All right, welcome back or welcome to the Finding Mastery podcast. I'm Michael Gervais. And by trade and training, I'm a sport and performance psychologist, just to give you some context of where this podcast is anchored in. And I'm also the co-founder of Compete to Create, along with head coach, Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks. And the idea behind these conversations is to learn from people who are on the path of mastery, period. That's it, we want to understand what they're searching for, their psychological framework, the mental skills that they've used to build and refine their craft.

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Okay, this week's conversation is with four-time Olympian for the US men's indoor volleyball team, Reid Priddy.

And Reid won gold in 2008 and bronze in 2016 He is legit at what he does. He's world-recognized for his skill and talent. And over the past 16 years, he's competed at the highest level of indoor volleyball, both on the national team as well as for foreign professional teams across the globe. And in 2014, he suffered an ACL during competition, which required double knee surgery.

And in his late 30s, he defied the odds. And he worked all the way back to the top, helping the US Olympic team win bronze in Rio. It's rad. Reid is looking to defy odds one more time by switching surfaces to the sand. So he's working towards representing the US in Tokyo in the 2020 Games.