KEY POINTS:
Tall, broad-shouldered and naturally gifted at sport, Hugh McCutcheon could have been a star rugby player. But what he saw in the gym at Christchurch's Shirley Boys High School about 20 years ago abruptly changed his life's direction.
The young McCutcheon had stumbled across the school volleyball team
playing that day and a fire lit within him.
"As soon as I got into it, I felt like I had a natural affinity with the sport," he told the Herald this week. "I really enjoyed it, I thought it was mentally challenging and I liked the physical aspects of it."
This week, McCutcheon arrived in Beijing as the head coach of the United States volleyball team _ one of the favourites to win Olympic gold after a comprehensive victory last month in the US$1 million ($1.4 million) World League.
It's a long way from Christchurch and it's a journey 38-year-old McCutcheon can hardly believe. Neither is it something he ever imagined when he left New Zealand in 1990 to play for Brigham Young University in the US. "The whole point of going to the States was just to see how good I could be because there were limited opportunities in New Zealand to progress," he said.
From 1988 to 1990, he played for the New Zealand junior and senior teams, but he wanted more. "It was, `What's the next step?' This opportunity came up and fortunately my family and the university in the States were able to make it work and one thing lead to another. It's more good luck than good management I can assure you."
Not likely.
Looking through his sporting resume, it's obvious McCutcheon has worked hard for his successes.
He played for BYU from 1991-1993, earning an honourable mention All America honours in his final year and graduating with a bachelor's degree in physical education.
He played professionally in Finland and Japan before heading back to his college where he had the post of top assistant coach and recruiter from 1995-2001. During that time he helped guide BYU to two NCAA men's volleyball championships.
He headed to Austria to coach a professional team for two years, spending the summers back in the US as a volunteer assistant coach for the men's team.
That experience helped him earn a full-time assistant coach job with the US team in 2003, before he stepped up to the head coach role in 2005.
It has been an awesome journey, he acknowledges. And that one seat up on the bench makes quite a difference.
"I feel very satisfied that we've tried to do everything we can to make this team successful."
He took up the head coach job after talking with his wife, Elisabeth, a former US women's team player.
"We talked about the challenge because it's a difficult position, a lot of hours consumed with the job and travel. We just said if you're doing to do it you gotta invest everything you can. You go for four years and give it what we can and either we're good enough or we're not. We're here and we have a chance and we'll see what happens."
Last month's World League title included a victory over defending Olympic champions Brazil. It is an achievement which has ignited hopes the US can restore some lost pride _ while it has a proud history in the sport, it has not been amongst the medals since 1992.
Crucial to their return to international success has been veteran star Lloy Ball, playing at his fourth Olympics. After the 2004 Games, Ball stepped aside from the national team but rejoined last year to help the team qualify, coaxed back by McCutcheon.
"I actually played against Hugh in college _ that's showing both of our ages," Ball, 36, said this week. "He was a great competitor and was as tenacious as he is as a coach.
"He has learned his coaching under guys like [former BYU coach Carl] McGowan and [former US national coach Doug] Beal and you can see that kind of old school hard line in him. But he gets the fact that we play 12 months of the year, we can't be over-trained. He does a nice job of balancing the two _ he pushes us when we need it, letting off the gas when we need that."
So what do the players think of having a Kiwi in charge?
"No offence but he's about as American as they come," said Ball. "We laugh sometimes when he says funny words like, `Take a slash'. I'm still not even sure what that means, I think it means urinate, right?"
When Ball and McCutcheon go out for a beer, the coach's New Zealand traits come out. But he does a good job of trying to be as American as he possibly can for the rest of the guys.
"I know he has a huge pride in New Zealand and as much as he loves America, he'd never love us as much as he loves you guys."
California-based McCutcheon, who retains a Kiwi twang, says he remains proud to be a New Zealand citizen, and keeps in close contact with home.
"To be honest my thing has been about volleyball. I feel very passionate about the team and the opportunity I have. It's never for me been an issue of citizenship _ it's just a great opportunity to lead an Olympic team."
