I met Justin this year after my team in Indonesia was looking for a replacement for our team. His agent, Steve Welch of SIM GRATTON in Canada sent me his info. Long story short he got the job and I was so relieved that when we ran into each other the first time he was:
Tall as hell. I FELT NORMAL!
He spoke perfect English. LIFE SAVER.
He was obviously mixed ethnically. BONUS.
Well Justin turned out to be more than just a few specs. This guy is truly one of the kindest hearted, competitive, focused and hungry to succeed in life athletes that I have EVER met. We hit it off instantly… from inhaling designer hamburgers from street vendors to becoming Asian archery competitors to coaching our own team to learning much more Indonesian than I wanted to learn because of his nerdiness to beating down Indonesian pro teams together except in the final (my bad Duff) to business start-up planning to psycho-like mirror scribbling to geeking out over robotics/RC’s to inhaling mango sticky rice, downing liters of beer in an hour in a while river boat taxi hopping & then sneaking into the private pool of the tallest building in Singapore to alternating in an ice bath while eating the biggest pizza in Indonesia… We had some good times.
Whew. Yes, that was a lot. It was a tiny bit of our 2 months playing for a team in Indonesia while we stayed in shape for real volleyball elsewhere around the world.
I’ve got tremendous respect for this guy who realizes his athletic prowess cannot get him everywhere in life but it can get him far enough to make leaps to other things during and after sport to be a great son, brother, friend and someday father. Total respect!
Where’s Justin now? Well in one of the best leagues in the world. Get the details by listening…
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About Justin DUFF
24 yr old pro and Canadian national team indoor volleyball player.
Strong & a huge vertical leap… but only a few more centimeters than me ;P
Son to a single mom.
Got cut from volleyball team initially during tryouts.
2004 started playing volleyball. National team in 2009 & senior national team in 2010. Pro in 2011.
5th Place in World League 2013. 7th in World Championships 2014. Champion of Russian Superleague 2013.
Key Discussion Points:
What’s his story?
What are his goals in sport & life?
What does he think of getting a high education?
What mistakes/obstacles has he faced in volleyball?
What lessons did he learn from those?
What was a defining moment in his life?
Key Lessons:
How being cut & denied at first is no reason to give up.
“Don’t be afraid to fail. Because you need to, you need that to grow. Things aren’t always going to go your way… and that’s ok... You should expect that and you should try and use it as a way to make yourself better. To rebuild.”
Where he keeps his goals to stay on track.
Why he worked through high school…
Why he is not keen on focusing on sports long term…
“I am not so keen on making it the focus of my life. Although we are becoming experts in it, since we put a lot of time in it, there are other things that I want to do.”
How starting a business & writing a book are big options…
Why others/adults can be inspirational…
“Just to be told I was talented in some way that other ppl weren’t kind of made me say, ‘alright well now I want to try and use this!’”
His biggest AHA moment that came to him in college…
How he responds to psychological challenges in sports…
“In the really tight moments you need to be really focused on ‘what is happening right now?’…”
Beyond Athletic with Ryan Jay Owens 
