 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 were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. This show is based on my books Beyond the Lines and Beyond the Game, and it's about leadership, character, and creating a superior culture of excellence. My special guest today was a key member on our University of Hawaii men's volleyball team who won the national championship last year in 2021. He is Colton Cowell, and today we are going beyond national championships. Hey, Colt, welcome to Beyond the Lines. Thank you so much for having me, Rusty. I'm really glad to be here. Colt, you are such an incredible player, and you have such an incredible story, but can you first tell me a bit about your background growing up? Of course, I'd be happy to. I was raised by a single mother, Priskeena, of Makawa Maui. I was raised up-country, playing multi-sport athlete as a kid, involved in gymnastics, basketball, soccer, volleyball, eventually fell in love with volleyball. As I grew older, learned to specialize in it and sort of fell in love with it. Now, I want to ask you, Colt, what is it about volleyball that you love so much? I think it's the attention to detail that the sport requires. There's obviously a physical element, the sort of plays that people go wow for and get really excited about. And I think there's also the technical aspect of the game, the analytical side of things that I really enjoy. And that's what helped me, I believe, succeed as a player during my growth and development at the University of Hawaii. Now, I know that you were a walk-on at University of Hawaii. Tell me about your journey and growth through those years. I mean, when you walked on to where you won the national championship. Truthfully, I was a walk-on, and I was very, very grateful to have received a spot. Granted by Charlie Wade to join the University of Hawaii Men's Volleyball roster in 2015. I was a defensive specialist, and my journey there was filled with ups and downs throughout the course. I was almost cut my sophomore year. I was given the option of either red-shirting as a libero, which means completely no activity, simply just training with the team in limited spurts. Or I would have to come and try out again the following year. If I wanted to continue as an outside hitter. I took the role of the libero in my sophomore season. I redshirted. I began to work really hard and really embrace the culture that was sort of beginning to amount there with the group that was present at the University of Hawaii and throughout my time there. I continued to grow and evolve as a leader. And eventually I began to statistically contribute to the team on the court as a starter beginning in 2019. We were the runner-ups that year, 2020. Obviously we experienced COVID as a nation and then 2021. We were the national champions defeating BYU in Ohio in three sets. Well, that's an incredible journey for you to come on as a walk on and then to end your college career as a national champion. I mean, that's inspiring. I mean, that's something that you're probably so happy that you can inspire so many youngsters with your story, right? I truthfully, I live to inspire and I feel that it is now my responsibility to be of service to others and provide other young athletes that may not be as physically talented as others and sort of help them along the path of embracing a role of simply working really hard, embracing the underdog mentality, kind of carrying a chip on your shoulder as you train, as you prepare. And so in so going through the route of willing to do whatever it takes to eventually succeed. Now, Cole, earlier you mentioned Coach Charlie Wade and I want to ask you about him a bit more because he's created a superior culture of excellence with his team. Now, I want you to share what that culture is like among the team. Amongst the team, we have an Alakai matrix and it's an acronym of all Hawaiian words, the first being Akamai, the second being Lokahi, the third being Akeu, the fourth, once again, being Alapa, and then lastly, being Ikaika. And along those matrix, there are awards given out sort of to each member of the team, obviously with Kuliana, there is responsibility. Ikaika is strength, that is sort of what translates amongst the team within the weight room. The Alapa, meaning athleticism, is sort of a skill-based position and it's represented actually in the form of an Ikaika, the Rolling Stones. And they're presented to the players at each position that have performed the best in their given skilled position statistically during the fall semester. Each of these awards is categorized and given out and presented to members of the team who excel in each of those categories. And I feel that that is sort of what our culture as a team is based upon because each of those require excellence and they sort of form this competitive drive amongst the team. And I feel that it translates well into the culture of the team. Yeah, I love hearing those insights. And yeah, because it seems like you guys are all pushing each other. I mean, the better you get, the better your teammates get and vice versa, right? Truthfully, yes. I feel that when the group is all brought in to trusting within the process and trusting and buying into the culture, I feel that that is what eventually leads to overall team success. Now, Colt, what does Coach Charlie do to get all of you to buy in to his coaching philosophy? I think he makes it about what we represent. It's not necessarily just the team culture. I believe it's also how proudly we represent the culture that is the people of Hawaii and the aloha spirit. The mantra, I believe, by the university is live aloha and play warrior. When we step onto the court, we want to be fierce. We want to bring the intensity, the passion and let our love for the sport translate into the competition and the field of play. However, off the court, we want to represent ourselves in high regard. We want to be involved in the community. We want to carry ourselves proudly. We want to help. We want to understand that there is no role just because we are in a position that is under what most would feel is a lot of scrutiny. We want to have that perspective where we are always willing to take care of the little things, especially when it comes to the day to day interactions with the aunties and uncles that are in the community. And we want to take care of this of the people here in the culture here. Well, it's it's all about the little things because those little things matter and those little victories matter. And Colt, what are some what are some of the reasons why you and your teammates won the national championship? I personally think that it's because we developed a very strong bond and we considered ourselves to be a family. We had a very, very strong bond because we were not just together for so many years, obviously, with some of us being in our sixth year due to covid, but because we went through ups and downs, we we got into emotional states of distress, the occasional physical altercation, but eventually it sort of creates that grit and that toughness and that everlasting bond of love, honestly, between one another that allows us to step onto the court and play play that much harder and to bring that much more intensity and that much more care for the people that are alongside of you wearing that same jersey. Now, for me as a coach, I, you know, I wanted my players to play how they practice and to practice how they play. What would you guys do to try to be, you know, at that at that level all the time where it didn't matter if you're on the practice court or if you're in a match? I personally, I always found myself struggling with actually answering that response. However, after reading your book beyond the game, I think it translates into the one percent principle. We stepped into the practice gym with the intention of getting one percent better every single day. We didn't necessarily change the durations of our practice. They were always pretty set at two and a half hours, but we found that in that time frame, what can we do to maximize the repetitions? How can we efficiently transition in between drills without distraction? How can we sort of eliminate any external thoughts, emotions, and noise that is coming? And how can we simply look to perform and get better and and achieve that one percent on a daily basis? Colt, I like how you mentioned the books beyond the game. And I want to ask you a little bit more about both books. You were a leader of the team. And what do you feel the greatest leaders do? What kind of characteristics do they have? I feel that they look to educate others around them. I personally felt that I wanted to be somebody that led by example, but over the course of my time at the University of Hawaii, I found that communication was extremely important and the better and more efficiently I could communicate and lead by example. It sort of allowed me to embrace the culture, the team culture, and hold myself and my teammates accountable to maintaining that same standard of excellence. Now, you know, everybody knows watching you guys last year, Colt, that that you were the glue of the team and you being the glue, what what would you do to enhance the togetherness of the team with you and your teammates? Not necessarily maybe on the court, but maybe even off the court. Personally, on the court, I always felt that eye contact was a big thing. And so I always looked for opportunities to maintain eye contact with my teammates to maintain the level of engagement. And for me, that was oftentimes my me craning my neck upwards as my teammates were so tall. And given my short stature, you know, I had a sore neck at times trying to look up at Patrick Gaspin, Rado Parapunov. However, I think off of the court, it was simply just maintaining a level of effective communication, making sure that I cared about their personal lives. I cared about how they performed off the court. And if something seemed to be amiss or if there was something that we weren't necessarily collaborating on correctly when it came to the performance side of things, I made sure to check in with them and have those conversations where you really, you really get to know a person. And I feel that that developing that bond is what allowed us to sort of keep that bond. It allowed us to sort of keep that level of engagement amongst ourselves. And that's something I proudly took upon myself in communicating was that I wanted to be there for my teammates 100% of the time and know that I always had their back. Oh, I love that Colton. I want to ask you something really specific before serving. If you're in a, if you're in a match before you're able to do that serve, what are you focusing on mentally? When I go back to the service line, I have a pre-service routine. I bounce the ball four times. I spin it once. I put it on my left side, my left leg. And I scan the opponent's receive formation. We're given a scouting report with a serving target. Typically it's based on either the guy that we want to have them work harder as in pass to position to attack or simply it's their worst statistical passer. I'll scan. I'll find my target. I will tell myself in my brain, I'm going to put the ball there. I imagine my toss briefly. I take a deep breath. I toss. I focus on firm contact on the ball. And then I simply focus on driving through until the finish. And of course, adding as much velocity as possible and maintaining a level of connection throughout my entire body. But I really like hearing those details. And we all know as coaches and you as a national champion player that practices have to be tough in order for the matches, the games to be easy. If the matches or the games are super hard, then the practices aren't tough enough. Now, what would you guys do on a typical practice day? How tough were your guys practices? I think our practices were very difficult. And I think that's why in the past, I believe now seven NCAA tournaments, we've made five appearances with the addition of Josh Walker and Milan Zarkovich to Charlie Wates coaching staff. I feel that the difficulty of our practices significantly increased. And I feel that we also are very fortunate to have always have a very talented second stream of guys and guys that will not back down from the starters whatsoever, regardless of position. And they step onto the floor to beat you every single day, whether it's in the drills or whether it's in the six on six competition. And I feel that that is what led to our success. And you will hear Charlie elaborate on this a lot in that our second string is capable of beating many teams throughout the country. Well, you know, it's all about using your strengths, right? And what would you say your team last year? What were some of the strengths that you guys all had? And what kind of identity do you guys feel you guys had as a team? I feel that our strength was experienced. But I feel that our identity was we refused to be complacent. We were a team that refused the idea, the concept of complacency. We wanted to step onto the court. And regardless of the experience, regardless of the fact that we had several sixth year guys on the floor and fifth year guys on the floor, we wanted to channel that, that love for the game that you have when you're first starting as a kid. And to our benefit, I feel that COVID provided that with us. I feel that having volleyball removed from our lives for a significant amount of time, it rekindled that passion for us all. And I feel that that was something that we utilized to our advantage was finding that love for the game and in our sixth year truly working harder than we ever had in years one through five. Cole, I want to ask you about mindset because we all know that the brain controls the body and it's a choice to really have the right mindset. So what is the mindset of champions? I feel that the mindset of champions is unwavering. I think that it is a relentless pursuit. I think that it involves consistent effort day in and day out. Regardless of the circumstances, regardless of moods, emotions, it's important that you commit to your process, that you fall in love with your process and that you remind yourself every single day that you are working towards something and that you're trying to achieve 1%. You're trying to climb another step onto the ladder. And that the overall mindset of champions is consistency. I completely agree with you, Colton. Talking about my books again, self-discipline leads to habits and habits lead to success. What were you guys doing to really have an elite level of self-discipline? I feel that we had multiple communication efforts between coaches and players throughout the COVID season. We were prevented from many interactions that you would typically see on a regular social environment due to social distancing, COVID protocols, testing and whatnot, mask mandates, et cetera. And simply put, when we would step onto the competition floor, the practice gym, the weight room, when we wanted to maintain that standard of excellence, it was communicated prior to performing that activity and we reflected on it post-activity. And I felt that that allowed us to really synthesize the message, allow it to translate throughout the process, and then at the end, the final review allowed you to really take things in on a deeper level having performed that activity. I love talking with you about this. And I want to ask you about the Stan Sheriff Center because that's the best place in the country for volleyball, right? And how impactful, how important is it when you're on the court with those thousands and thousands of people, the fans, does that really make a difference in giving you guys that little extra boost? Absolutely, absolutely. I think that the people of Hawaii are a special, special people. There are people that everyone that attends the university falls in love with, and if you observe from a distance, you're sort of in awe of the level of energy that the community here provides to their student athletes, especially during competition. And I feel that when you are playing in the Stan Sheriff Center and it's sold out, there is no greater feeling. There's a sense of electricity in the air that you channel and it goes through your body entirely and you can feel it. And with that, it provides you with a sense of purpose that you're playing for something greater than yourself. Yeah, I love these insights, Colton. What would you say, Colt, is a valuable, important lesson that you learned in your young life so far? Good things take time. Practice patience and recognizing that you're recognizing that good things take time. Now, besides Coach Charlie, who would you say are some coaches that inspire you? Rick Tune currently at Punahou School inspires me. He has become a significant mentor of mine and I feel that on a daily basis, he lives his life excellency as a husband, as a father, as a coach, as a mentor, as a dean, as an athletic director. I truly feel that in a multifaceted perspective, he truly lives a life of excellence and he certainly has, to me at least, taken me under his wing and shown me what it means to be successful as a man and as an educator when you step onto the floor to coach your players. I'm glad you said that. I know Rick as well and he's a great guy. And what are you currently doing right now at Punahou? I'm the assistant coach for varsity one boys volleyball at Punahou School. Okay. And Cole, when you reflect back right now, what do you feel is the best advice you ever received? Truthfully, when I answered these questions, I almost want to say I haven't received it yet. I like to live a life where I'm constantly learning and I'm constantly providing myself with different stimulus to sort of absorb and synthesize and process. Truthfully, the best piece of advice I feel that I've received is that same quotation that I provided earlier with recognizing that good things take time and to practice patience. Yeah. I feel that practicing patience is truthfully a key element in developing into a successful leader and developing successful leaders around you, especially from the standpoint of coaching. Cole, I love that. Okay. Let's say your internal climate is really important. I mean, you can't be too pumped up. You can't be too passive internally. How would you guys get into the right internal climate before a big match? I think we kept things quite light, to be honest. We would go through a very deliberate scouting report. We would understand the tactical assignment that was in front of us. We would develop key strategies, but when it came to preparing for the match, we tried to stay light as a group, and then there was certainly a switch that would flip that would allow us to increase our intensity as we got into the court and harness our focus. But I think leading up to the match, it was important for us to maintain this friendliness amongst each other, this lightness, this sort of bond, this friendship, this brotherhood, because ultimately when we stepped into the court, you couldn't help but smile sometimes, looking across the floor and seeing, these are my best friends. And I'm quoted on this in the 2019 post championship match interview when we lost, is that these are going to be the best men at my wedding someday. These are going to be significant friends of mine for the rest of my life. Colt, you are absolutely right, because your college team, your teammates, that's like your own fraternity right there. Your team is your fraternity. And yeah, for me, my college teammates, I mean, we're still great friends. I mean, all these years later, and Colt, you achieved greatness. How do you define greatness? I would define greatness as consistent effort over time, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the emotional aspect, but also the emotional aspect. Honing into performance. Performance and execution are critical when it comes to greatness. You can have those that individuals that are consistent, but if they're simply just going through the motions, eventually they will not find the same level of success as those that really put mindfulness, almost even compassion for themselves and mindfulness and intention into their training. It is intentional consistency over a long period of time, focused on not necessarily only results, but trusting in the process and ultimately believing in oneself to no end. Colt, that was a tough question, and you gave a fantastic answer, Colt. And I want to ask you, earlier you talked about not being complacent, because in all successful teams, all successful people, they're never complacent. They take risks, calculated risk to be better. What are your thoughts about the importance of taking risk? I think calculated risks are very valuable, very valuable aspect of athletic performance. I feel that without taking risks, you leave sort of that unknown area up to chance. And I feel that while there will be times where you look to capitalize on an opportunity and ultimately the outcome is not in your favor, but simply put, if you truly believe in yourself, I feel that even from an instinctual level, you are favored in regards to the outcome if you put persistent time and effort into those risks, or into calculating out sort of a strategy, or even analyzing the risk to the extent where, well, I could invest this amount of time, this amount of effort, and I could ultimately result in a negative outcome, but you can also flip sort of that perspective on things and understand it as regardless of the outcome along that process. I learned something. I will take something away from it. And I think that's really important. Oh, I know that whatever you choose to pursue, you're going to be great at it. You're going to have major success. I mean, you're someone that has such incredible character and you're an inspiration to so many people. What are some of your future goals that you want to accomplish? I was having, I actually had some of those thoughts. I try to have those thoughts on a daily basis. I try to be very in tune with sort of a five-year plan in my mind of where I want to be in five years. And I believe it was from a Matthew McConaughey speech that taught me that was he was asked, who was your hero in five years? And he said, it's me. He said, my hero is myself in five years. And I sort of look to live by that as well. I want my hero to be myself in five years because I am fully in control of what I can accomplish and what the outcome of that five-year process will be. But I don't mean to go into a tangent. What I feel that are sort of nearly my short-term goals are you have a very successful first professional season overseas in Germany. Following that, I want to continue giving back to the youth athletics programs throughout Hawaii and contribute as much as I can from my experiences. And then ultimately, even more long-term than that, I would certainly love to pursue a role, as I've mentioned before, in the athletic department, giving back to potentially the University of Hawaii, potentially Punahou School, obviously my alma mater, Kinke Kaolike, back in Maui. I would love to be involved in, I had this thought earlier, especially a scholarship eventually at some point for walk-on student-athletes and providing them with an opportunity to pursue an education, pursue an athletic career. Because I do not want those that may not have the same physical stature or same talent as the top-level recruits to give up on themselves. I want them to believe in themselves and I want them to trust the process. I love hearing those goals and no doubt you're going to accomplish all of it, Colton. I think I speak for all of Hawaii, that we are all so proud of you, beyond winning the national championship, but more so because of the person you are. And I want to thank you for taking time to join, of joining me on the show today. Thank you, Russ. I really appreciate it. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKamori.com and my books are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I hope that Colton and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and donate to us at thinktechawaii.com. Mahalo.