 Hi, I'm Rusty Komori, and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou Boys varsity tennis team for 22 years, and we're fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. My book Beyond the Lines is about leadership, creating a superior culture of excellence, and finding greatness, which is what this show is all about. My special guest today has proven himself to be one of the best, if not the best, college volleyball coach in the United States. He is our University of Hawaii men's volleyball coach, Charlie Wade, and today we are going beyond volleyball. Hey, Coach Charlie, welcome to the show. Glad to be here, thanks for having me. Now Coach Charlie, I want to ask you, when did you first start getting interested in playing volleyball? Okay, so I'm living in a small town in northern Indiana, and while we were the county seat, the biggest town around, it was still only 10,000 people. It's a small, rural community, and I saw on, you know, one of those kind of CBS Wildwoods sports, something on the weekend. In those days, we only had three channels, so let me get very many. And I saw this thing from Beach Volleyball at King Harbor in Redondo Beach, California. And I was born in Redondo Beach, California, but we moved when I was just an infant. So I didn't, that was the first time I'd seen it, and like, wow, that's where I'm from. That's, you know, so that really got me interested, and then fast forward about a year, probably two years later, I graduated from high school and got in a car with a buddy and drove from Indiana out to Southern California, looking to play some volleyball. Wow. So what is it about volleyball that you love so much? Uh, yeah, I mean, it's kind of everything, you know, I mean, it was just like, I played golf and I played basketball, and you know, volleyball was just a really unique thing where it wasn't just about who could run the fastest and jump the highest, there's a high degree of skill, and pretty complex when we start to understand, you know, just the strategy and stuff and what it takes to play at a high level. Now what is it about coaching volleyball that you love so much as well now? I would say, you know, it's just the quest and the gratification to, you know, improving people's lives and bringing joy to people and, you know, it's kind of ongoing, obviously, forever and just the journey that comes with helping people try to be the best. Well, Coach Charlie, I mean, you are, I honestly believe you're the best college volleyball coach in the country, and last year our UH men's tennis team, volleyball team made it to the championship final, and then this year for most of the season, you guys were ranked number one. Now, in order to do that, you have to have a superior culture of excellence. What is your team's culture like? Yeah, and we've been on a pretty good run now, you know, going back to 2015 or so. We have spent a lot of time defining and reinforcing the things that are important to us and what we've defined, and it comes out of kind of a mantra of figure out what's important, focus on what you can control. If you've ever noticed on the back of the guys' warm-up shirts and in our practice shirts, there's the word alakai, which is Hawaiian word for leader, and that's also an acronym for us. You know, it's akamai, lokahi, alapa, kuleana, akeu, ikaika, and that is, you know, the things that we want the guys just to focus on, and that would be academics, teamwork, skill, responsibility, just kind of the energy and spirit that they bring, and the strength component, you know, committed to running faster, jumping higher, hitting harder, and then each one of those also we award with a symbol in Hawaiian culture, you know, and I can really go off in detail on that, but, you know, it's been about defining something that the guys can focus in on a daily basis and just staying committed to that. I love hearing those insights, and Coach Charlie, you know, you're big on character, and your team has, your individual players have great character, your team has great character collectively. Tell me about your four seniors that are, you know, that you had on this year's team. How special are they? Yeah, just a great group of young men, you know, three of them were fifth year guys, you know, I've always said, you know, everyone's better in their fifth year than their fourth year, you're just older, smarter, and more mature, you know, these guys have won at an unprecedented rate, you know, and they've been among the best players in the world at their position for quite some time, they've all represented their home countries at one time or another in international competition, and, you know, just like I said, they're really good volleyball players, you can play at a high level, but they've also helped us sustain a culture where we also have the highest grade point average of any team on the West Coast and really just committed to winning and committing to representing Hawaii. No, I love hearing that, you know, the academic part of it, you know, because obviously they're, I mean, amazing sport athletes and volleyball, but I mean, without academics, I mean, sports becomes, you can't do any sports, so that's a huge part that you guys are focused on, on the academics as well. Now, Coach Charlie, I want to ask you, how do you get your team to buy in to your philosophy, to your team's goals? Yeah, that's, I mean, that's the part that takes time, yeah, I mean, the first part there is about, you know, having a message, having something that defines you, and then the buy-in is everything, you know, I've seen lots of coaches, and I say this, you know, most coaches, you've been doing it for a while, you know enough about the ball, you know enough about going out to the practice court, you know, field, wherever you are, and get the balls, again, the players, and you can reach a level of efficiency and production that allow you to keep your job forever, but it's the, it's the part about having the message, and then the buy-in, the buy-in is the tricky part, and that is, I think for us, you know, being part of something that's bigger than just yourself, or even bigger than the team, you know, representing the state of why, I think the part about for us having that piece that has a wine language, and has a wine culture, and for me, it's very important that we perpetuate those things, and that they're a part of who we are, and what we stand for, you know, and it, I had read a book over the summer, and I had the team read the book going into it, and it really, it really reinforced a lot of what we've been working on for years, and it's the book Legacy by Kerr, you know, it's about the all blacks, and it said very profoundly, I thought that when your message is about something that makes you a better person, makes you better teammate, makes you better player, makes you better member of community, father, husband, whatever it is, that the buy-in is much deeper, it really is. So for us, you know, getting the buy-in has been an ongoing quest, you know, and we've, like I said, we've been pretty fortunate to have on this run where guys are really bought in, you know, and they're doing their best in everything that we've identified for them, but having the culture be defined by things that make you a better person, I think, is really important. Now, Coach Charlie, I mean, you have players from around the world, and you know how you're talking about the Hawaiian culture, and that's a big part of it. Tell me more about those little details about how you're incorporating the Hawaiian culture into your team. Yeah, I mean, I saw it, like I said, from using the symbolism of the things that we've identified. So I went over the Alakai matrix there a little bit, and each of those things are represented by, you know, what I'd call a piece of art in Hawaiian culture, something that symbolizes, you know, like the smartest guy is a guy with the highest grade point average, and that is symbolized by a Hawaiian fish hook. The skill part is an ulu maika, you know, and so each one of these things, we give to the players if they're, you know, if they've achieved in that category. And then for me, like that ulu maika or the poi pounder or, you know, the statue of Koo or whatever it is, that's going to sit on a guy's desk. It's going to sit on the shelf in his house. And for years, for the rest of his life, people are going to look at it and you ask him, like, what is that? What does it mean? And then he's going to have to define that. He's going to have to explain that. And this, it will only help perpetuate not only the mindset and the ideals, the values that we hold, you know, to be most important. It also helps, like I said, perpetuate Hawaiian language and Hawaiian culture worldwide. You know, I see the guy sitting in Bulgaria with, you know, an ulu maika sitting on his, somebody's going to ask him and he's, he's going to have to explain that. So for me, there's, there's lots of peripheral benefits, aside from this being our, our chosen path, path of endeavor. I love hearing that, Coach Charlie. And for many years, you coached with Dave Shoji for the Wahine volleyball. And what have, what have you found to be some of the differences in coaching men versus women? There's certainly overall, I mean, the game's kind of the same. There's more similarities than differences. You know, the most practical difference between the collegiate level is the women get 12 full scholarships and the men get 4.5 significant difference, you know, and I, I look now back at man, how much talent could you put together with 12 full scholarships? But four and a half is our reality. And that's what we deal with. They're different animals, you know, the men want to keep score, they want to compete over everything. You know, you have to be more direct. If, if you say like, look, we're working on service seed, and we say, hey, look, you know, we have to be better at service seed. If you say that to a group of men, they typically there's guys going to be like, well, he's talking about that guy or somebody else. And if you say to a group of women, they take it more personally, like, oh, he's talking about me, I have to be better at service, even with the men, you have to be more direct to say, look, you have to be better at service seed. Jimmy, that's you have to be better at it. You can't just throw out these blanket statements. And I'd say the other part too, women will buy in quicker, you know, once you've defined what you're about, and here's what we're, we're going to work on, they'll buy in and they'll try things that may not show immediate results quicker than the men will. I had one person explained to me once or read it somewhere that men start wars. Sometimes they start them over women, but they're generally the history of the world, men start war. So it takes a little longer to get them to buy in. And that just to me is more, it just reinforces more why you have to have a message and why that message has to be very clear. So, you know, through these years, how, how to have you, how has your coaching style evolved through all of these years? Well, I would think, you know, over time, you just become more patient, you know, you gain perspective, perspective from being a father and being a husband and just, just living more. I think it's one of the things that I did kind of get from Shoji and being around him. That you can't solve everything right now, you know, as a young man and as a young coach, you know, we try to solve everything. And soon as it comes up, if there's a conflict or something, you know, we try to rush out and fix it right now where sometimes you can just let it play out. And then there's the part two, just what we do in the practice gym, you know, we've kind of evolved. Because I think if you're still doing the same stuff in the practice gym that you were doing five years ago, let alone 25, you probably haven't gotten much better, you know, we spent a lot more time with what I'd call like hand on ball where guys are snapping and spinning balls that, you know, at different lengths and different distances and different speeds, just to help get that kind of calibrated where they can, they can control the ball better. Oh, yeah, that's great. I love hearing those insights from you. Coach Charlie, we're going to take a quick break. And then when we come back, we're going to continue going beyond volleyball. All right. No problem. You are watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii with my special guest, Coach Charlie Wade. We will be back in a quick minute. Aloha. I'm Grace Lodik, the host of educating ourselves in these difficult times on Think Tech Hawaii. Our show deals with media and education and a stream live on Think Tech biweekly at 12 noon on Thursdays. Thank you for watching our show. We look forward to seeing you then. Aloha. Welcome back to Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. My special guest today is one of the top, if not the top college volleyball coach in the United States is Coach Charlie Wade. And today we are going beyond volleyball. Coach Charlie, you know, I know a lot of young volleyball coaches that really admire you and what you've done as a coach. Who is a coach that you admire? The first name that comes to mind for me is a gentleman by the name of Larry Long. You're probably going, what do I know Larry Long? You don't. Larry Long was a little league coach that I had. It's got to be now 45 years ago or something. I just thought, you know, and he was such a great man and a great father and a great husband. And I just really admired him. And you know, as I as I started getting to coaching, I know that I've I've thought about him a lot. And then coaches that you've probably heard more, I think I kind of lean towards guys that are empowering to the players, you know, that while I'll have, you know, strict discipline and, you know, and hold people accountable, but but allow for some flexibility and allow for, you know, just people to evolve. And I go with Joe Madden, who I know worked a lot, even though I've never met Joe Madden. He worked a lot by a guy that I spent time studying with Ken Revisah, the sports psychologist who passed recently. And I think the other one would be a guy like Doc Rivers. And he is, I've been able to watch his career, obviously, and he's one at the highest level. And I'd had an opportunity to meet him a couple of different times throughout. So I like that. And Coach Charlie, you know what I find amazing is, you know, the there's so much excitement that your teams bring into the Stan Sheriff Center. And I mean, the crowds that come in the fans, I mean, what are your thoughts about playing and, you know, having your teams play in front of all of these fans? Yeah, it's just amazing. You know, like I said, I got here in 95 and right when the Stan Sheriff Center opened, and it was such a new thing. And both the men and the women were averaging, you know, 8000 and it was, you know, just amazing experience to be a part of. And then over time, you know, that everybody has kind of dropped back and got kind of routine. And so when I took the job in 2009, you know, that certainly was the goal to get it back to that level. And I know a lot of people thought it wasn't possible. But it's happened here. We guard, you know, fast forward 10, 11 years, and we're selling out the Stan Sheriff Center. And it's, it's just so humbling to be a part of something that so many of the people in the community, you know, rally behind it and see how important it is to them. And, you know, I'm proud to be able to do something that brings the community together and gives the community something that they can have joy in and be proud of. Oh, that's for sure. You're doing that, definitely. Coach Charlie, in my books, I talk about, you know, welcoming adversity and really focusing on mindset and attitude. And you do the same. How do you get your teams in the right mindset to look forward to challenges? Well, I think it comes a lot from just like it said, just the mantra of, of who we are and what defines us, you know, I think that's so key. Like I mentioned that having something that defines you on a daily basis, that the players can focus on, on a daily basis, you know, and this is kind of evolved, you know, back before I had kids and I used to read a lot more, I still find time, I was, I was pretty obsessed with reading, you know, the most successful people, whether they were in business or in sport. So then as you read, whether it was wooden or Shoshesky or, you know, guys in the business world, it was the kind of the common themes for me were figure out what's important, figure out what's what you can control, you know. And I remember having a conversation with Lily Kahumoku when she was playing, you know, we had a great run where, you know, we went to the final four or three out of four years and she's asking me, well, why are we going to win? You know, because she's like, and I agreed every year, you know, we sit in the locker room, go, we're going to go to the final four, we're going to go to the national championship. And she's like, I would imagine the same is happening in Nebraska and Florida and Stanford. And so what is it that defines us? And that really started me on that journey of kind of, you know, coming up with something, something that they can hang their hat on every day. So the time your feet hit the bed in the morning to the time you go to bed at night, if we, if you stay focused on what is now for us, and this is the third version of this, it's one of those things that when you're a long time assistant, you're like, well, I'm the head coach, I'm going to do this. So when I was at Pacific, it was, we called it AFPAC and it was, you know, kind of on the Pacific wordmark and we defined it, but it's really the categories have all stayed the same. And when I came back in 2009 and 2010, it was VazTech that was actually on the back of the shirts for a while. And then with the work of Judge Thomas Colakapui has kind of helped me over the last several years rebrand it to have this input of Hawaiian language, Hawaiian culture. So for me, it's like that, that's kind of what defines this. And I think you'd ask the guy that the guys, you would get some version of that answer. No, you're right. And you mentioned about controlling everything that you have control about. And I talk about that in my books as well, because there's a huge difference between necessary stress and unnecessary stress. And all of us, we can control so many things that are within our control. And we don't have to worry about things that's beyond our control. For you, I want to know about your coaching system, because a lot of the great coaches have their system. But oftentimes, you know, depending on the players that you have that year or the talent that you have, you might adapt your system to the talent or players that you have. Do you do the same? For sure. And I, there are a lot of coaches that like to talk about their system. And they'll be like, Well, in my system, if we do this, and this player does this, and I'm like, look, you want to know my system is, and this goes to the part two, like, that means you're just hanging on to something you've been doing forever. And your your system, you were doing that 1985. Look, my system is, let's figure out what you're good at. Let's see if we can put it in the game and you can help us get 25 before they do. Straight up. And that may change night tonight. It may change set to set. It may certainly changes year to year based on the talent you have. But the central theme is, let's figure out what you're good at. Let's keep working on individual technique. Let's keep working on your mindset. Let's keep working on your discipline, your commitment, and find a way that we can get you on the floor and help us get 25 before they do. I totally agree with you. It's all about it's all about building on to the strengths, making their strengths even stronger. Coach Charlie, what is your team's identity? You know, a lot of the great athletes are great teams. They have an identity about them. What do you feel your team's identity is? Yeah, that's one, two that I think is probably better answered by players. And I would think that you would get some version of a la CUTE. And that is, you know, our identity is that we're trying to be the best at everything. We're trying to look like professionals, trying to act like professionals. We're trying to, you know, do our best in the classroom, in the practice gym, in the weight room. And I think for us, that's, you know, like I said, it's been our path. And I think that's if you ask guys that are in the program, that question gets some version of that. Yeah, that's great. And Coach Charlie, what do you feel is the best advice you ever received in your life? I'll say this. Chris McLaughlin, yeah, and a mentor and a coach. And, you know, he said, and it fits in with what we're doing. I remember having a conversation one time and he talked about how important he thought it was to have regular meetings with the players, you know, and this is from a professional standpoint. So, but it does speak to just overall, like, you know, how important communicating is, you know, we're always making observations and important to share those observations and building relationships. So, you know, Chris and I talked about it from the coaching standpoint, you know, having that communication with the players. So we had a regular basis, have individual meetings with every single guy, we're still doing them through this and they're just on the phone or through Zoom. But just having, taking the time, because you're building a relationship, you're not just communicating and talking about, we may talk about school, we may talk about volleyball, we may talk about anything. But it's taking the time and building those relationships and taking the time to communicate what you think and what you feel about things that we both feel are important. I just think that's been really helpful. Yeah, it's about consistency and really caring about what their goals are, what's important to them. And that's how they get the buy in, where they trust and respect you even more because they know you care about them more than just volleyball players. And Coach Charlie, what is a valuable lesson you learned in life so far? Well, aside from that one, and then the other, just the part two that I've said that kind of defines about, you know, figure out what's important, focus on what you control. We see this all the time where people in various levels of success and well into their life, you know, they get obsessed over things that either aren't important or out of their control. And, you know, so I think that's while it's very simple, you know, I think it's one of those everybody would agree with, but did you really learn it? And then I think the other part just, you know, how important it is to be calm and to be confident in adversity, because there's going to be tough times, you know, and when it's most stressful, I think it's important to, as a leader, to show the people around you that you're in control and you know what you're doing. And on the flip side of it, to have the willingness to show emotion when you feel it's necessary. And whether that's, you know, vulnerable emotion and something that you feel passionate about or animated emotion, when it's something you feel passionate about that, you know, when that opportunity presents itself, that you're willing to to put yourself out there. Yeah. Oh, Charlie, I want to ask you one more thing before we wrap. What gives you fulfillment? Besides spending time with my wife and kids, you know, which we've, this is, I think it's been a blessing in this, what we're in, all kind of being sequestered here. And walking my dogs. That's, enjoy them. And I'm not to say just the never ending quest for just that elusive national championship. And really it's more than just a trophy, but the journey to get there and helping people become better fathers, better husbands, you know, better members of our community, helping them to get on a path that's going to allow them to be successful for life. Oh, Charlie, I want to thank you for your insights and taking time to be on the show today. You're a great man with great character and your teams are a reflection of you and you are a reflection of them. And thank you for joining me today. That's very kind of you, Rusty. I appreciate it. Aloha. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKomori.com and my books are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and BooksHawaii.net. I hope that Coach Charlie and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.