 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 is the head coach of our University of Hawaii women's soccer team. She is Coach Michelle Nagamine, and today we are going beyond soccer. Hey, Coach Michelle, how's everything going? Uh, Loa Rusty, great to see you. Now I know that your nickname is Bud, so I'm going to refer to you as Coach Bud, because that's what everybody calls you, right? Correct. Absolutely correct. Coach Bud, tell me about your background growing up. Well, let's see, I graduated from Kamehameha in 1986, so I was a lifer there from kindergarten all the way through my senior year. I grew up in Pearl City and actually begged my mom to let me go to Pearl City High School where all my friends were, but because I had been at Kamehameha for so long, I ended up staying there, and rightfully so. I mean, it was the best decision for me ever. I think I actually just wanted to sleep 45 minutes longer in the morning, which is why all of that argument with my mom started, because we live right down the hill, so I graduated from Kamehameha in 1986. I went to Santa Clara University, played on the women's soccer team there from 86 through 90, and then moved home to work for a company called Data House to do some multimedia marketing at the time. My major in college was video production or TV production, so communication with a TV production emphasis. I actually wanted to be an MTV DJ, which is how I ended up maturing in communication with a video emphasis, but that didn't really work out. So I ended up moving back home and started volunteering at Kamehameha with the Varsity team up there back in 92, and then 93 took over as the head coach, and then coach there all the way through getting hired at University of Hawaii. Well, Coach Budd, I think you would make a fantastic VJ for MTV, for sure, without a doubt. Too bad MTV doesn't just show videos anymore. They do all these other things, but the music videos are lacking. Yeah, it's not like how it used to be where MTV was all about videos, and Coach Budd, how did you get your great passion for soccer? Well, I was very shy when I was in elementary and intermediate school, and I know that's hard to believe, especially for people who know me now. I found a love for soccer through, kind of by accident. I was a competitive swimmer first. Well, first I was a gymnast, so I took gymnastics from a very, very young age. I want to say four or five years old, and I loved it all the way up until they told me that we were going to learn how to do backward walkovers on the balance beam, and I was like, uh, no. So I stopped doing gymnastics, and I was doing gymnastics and swimming at the same time, so I got into competitive swimming for Kamehameha Soccer Swimming Club, and then I broke my arm on the playground at Recess, and I couldn't swim anymore, so I was in a cast going to my brother's soccer games, and I was like, I can do this. And so I started one of my good friends, Joyce Lynn Lee, got me on her AYSO team, and we started playing, and that led into other opportunities in the Women's Island Soccer Association, and then, yeah, the rest was history. So my passion for the game, I think it was just constantly a challenge. You know, when you're asked to do something with your feet, and you can't use your hands, it's not something that comes naturally to everyone. So I think the challenge of, you know, trying to get better and master all these different skills, you know, those were the things that really kept me involved and driven to learn more, and my passion just kind of flowed out of me after that. Well, I did soccer in my youth, and I had a lot of fun playing soccer, and Coach Budd, you have such a terrific personality, and you're such a great person of character, and how and why did you become a coach? Well, thank you for that, number one. I became a coach because I think as a local girl growing up in Hawaii, there were a lot of pitfalls that I fell into, and although I was personally very driven and always, you know, took a lot of pride in my work rate and my attitude and my ability to be a good teammate. Those were the things that really were important to me, but there wasn't a lot of guidance because there weren't a lot of people really playing soccer at a high level. So I think I got into coaching because I wanted to try to help people, young women especially, avoid some of the pitfalls that I fell into while I was growing up, and that drove me to get involved at Kamehameha, and it also drove me to get involved at Leahi Soccer Club, and then ultimately, I think all of those things just kind of helped us become better, become, I would say like, not better, but it helped me aspire to a different level, you know, so the college game really did appeal to me after that. Well, I love watching your teams play, and you've created a culture of excellence with your teams, and what kind of disciplines do you focus on in building your teams every year? Well, you know, I, again, I thank you for that, but I look at sometimes the, you know, people measure success based on winning and losing, and I found that it was very interesting that in your book, you talked about success that was measured in other ways, you know, the impact that you're making on people, the love that you're creating for the game, and I think, you know, when you talk about a culture of excellence, it can be both on and off the field, and there's no secret that I really wish I won more than we actually do at University of Hawaii. We don't win championships every single year, you know, we don't win all the time, and I think what I take the most pride in is that my teams do extremely well academically, and we propel these young women through very adverse conditions, and they power through learning how to problem solve over the course of four years that they're with us, and it helps them to set goals and aspire to different levels off the field, because guess what? Life is hard, and you don't always get what you want, you don't always get the job that you're looking for, the pay that you want, so when adversity comes up in life, you have to learn how to deal with that, and I think the culture that we strive to create here is, you know, let's be true to ourselves, let's make sure that we aspire to and strive for excellence, but let's understand that we're not always going to get what we want, so it's how we respond to that lack of getting, so to speak, that is going to measure us as women and as people of character, so when things get really, really hard, that's when the true character is revealed, and fortunately I've been on both sides of the fence, you know, winning championships and, you know, not winning a game in a season, so it's been a really long, long journey. Yeah, and you're right, it's all about how you respond, and yeah, your team has a very high GPA, I saw last year you guys had a 3.7 GPA and that's so impressive, and Coach Budd, obviously your games are very competitive, and when I'm watching your teams, they're very competitive, but it looks like they're having so much fun out being out there together at the same time, they're competing hard, but it's fun. Why is that? How do you keep things fun with them? Well, last year was a really big challenge, you know, we're talking about seasons now coming out of a pandemic or not even out of the pandemic yet, but learning how to deal with so much adversity, we hadn't played for over 650 days, so the kids were just naturally thrilled to be back and playing, so I think that fun part came in, just the mere fact that they could be back together again, you know, we did have a lot of restrictions on us, we couldn't play, you know, full on the 11 aside just yet, because we were coming back from a really, really long break off and we didn't want to get anybody hurt, then, you know, there were contact rules where we couldn't be too close to each other, so doing socially distant soccer training, that was a, you know, an adventure in itself, that I think the kids found a little bit weird but very amusing, and then at the end, very frustrating, so, you know, we went through a plethora of emotions, but I think what we tried to do was give them readings to help them deal with their emotions and their feelings, you know, we talked about the power of positive thinking and seeing the glasses half full and actually trying to be the coffee bean, where we're going to be influencing our environment versus, you know, being the egg that gets in the boiling water and cracks, you know, or the carrot that gets in the boiling water that gets mushy, so, you know, can you actually be the coffee bean where, when the water starts to boil around you, can you influence your environment for the positive, you know, and that was really tough to do when so many things were taken away from players, but I think, you know, focusing on things like that and enjoying our time together, that's how we really pulled each other through this season, you know, it was tough to lose five games at the beginning of the season because plain and simple, people couldn't afford to travel to Hawaii, so even the teams who could afford to travel who had, you know, fundraise for two years to come to one of our tournaments, they had to pull out and they told me it was the optics, their AD said, we're not going to send our women's soccer team to Hawaii in the middle of this pandemic, it's the optics are bad, you know, we're in budget cuts and so we lost a lot, so what we had to focus on was the fact that we were healthy, that we did get a chance to be together, 15 games were better than zero games and I think just plugging along and being consistent in the message that we sent to the players and also relying on them to provide honest feedback for us as to how we could support them, those were the things that really got us through and helped us stay positive. Yeah, you know, I like that you have such awareness about emotions, that's such a key thing for great leaders and that's what you do and Coach Bud, how do you get your teams ready to potentially have peak performance in their games? Well, I think the way that the number one thing for women I think is confidence and I think confidence comes from being prepared, so you know, like you said, you know, in your book, the four Ps, right, you know, you have to, it has to be about the people number one, you know, do I take the time to try to make sure that every single person on my team feels like they matter because the reality is on a team, everyone matters, so making sure that they understand exactly what it is that makes them special, helping me to understand what their why is helps me to be a better coach for them, you know, and then as we have the people part down, you know, we have to be consistent in our actions and we have to make sure that they understand the entire process and that we're transparent and that they take part in the journey, we want them to be driving the bus, I should be a passenger on their bus, and when they learn to trust the process and prepare and those things are the things that are actually building confidence in women, you know, and then that, like you said, should transfer into performance, you know, when you've prepared and you feel like you're prepared, that's usually when people are at their best, so it is very, very difficult because, you know, soccer, there's a very large roster, we have 11 on the field, which means we have a roster of 27 or 28 players, so, you know, maintaining our GPA, that's hard because now you're taking a cumulative GPA of all 28 people, and then, you know, have keeping 28 people happy when 11 people play on the field at once, that's also very challenging, so people need to be clear about their roles, they need to understand, you know, what they are, how they can be impactful, and you know, ironically the board right in back of me, you know, talks about the impact, and you know, when you do just enough to get by, you're going to set yourself up for success in a couple of different ways, if you're just doing enough to get by, you're not going to be successful or impactful because everybody else is pretty much doing the same thing as you, so what creates separation for you is something that makes you special, are you, you know, really technical, are you super fast, are you really strong, are you good in the air, do you have a skill set that not everybody has? If you do just enough to get by but you're special, then you're usually going to find yourself being more influential or making a bigger impact, but unfortunately, most people don't have that many things that create that kind of separation, you have to work at those things to create separation, so it's, we went through this whole, you know, long training on just impact versus non-impact, and when you do just enough to get by, you haven't really prepared, and that affects performance, so yeah, that's a lot of the stuff that we've been going through this past fall and then now into our spring season. Well, I love hearing these insights from you, Coach Budd, and you know, I always tell my players, you're always in one of three situations, you're either winning, losing, or tied. Now, your attitude and effort should always be the same from the first point to match point. Now, how do you get your teams, what do you say to them where they can have that kind of mindset from the first minute of the game to the last minute of your game? Oh, that's a tough one because soccer is 90 minutes long, so you know, forgive the term, but brain farts are plentiful, and you know, sometimes what we've had to do is figure out for each player, you know, there was one player I had who was very, very talented, but very emotional, and you know, when things didn't go her way, she started to internalize a lot of her emotions to where it would come out in a physical manner, kind of like the Brendan Lee story that you talked about in your book, you know, where the emotions just get the best of them sometime, and what I actually had to do for her was I had to call her to the side, I had to put my hand on her shoulder and say, reset, and you know, we want the players to own this process. This was her idea, not mine, and you know, I think as coaches, we owe it to our players to understand what makes each of them work. Now on the other hand, I have made a lot of mistakes, you know, even just this past season, coming out of the pandemic and getting to finally play again after so long off, I erred on the side of caution way too much, and a lot of the players were like feeling that I was baiting them, and that, you know, was not the best thing for them. So I think, you know, being able to keep people focused through the game, you really have to get into their mind first, you know, you know what you want to do as a coach and as an athlete, but you need to take the time to get to know your players and how they handle adversity. So that would be, you know, my answer to keeping the team focused, you know, you have to be, you have to hit on your team dynamics first and make sure that, you know, you are being consistent in the message that you give them, especially when things are not going well. I've learned a long time ago that, you know, the emotion that I have trickles down into my players. So if I'm not careful, it's going to do some damage and more bad than good. So that's something that, you know, I had to carry with me this season as well. And it's not easy, but you owe it to your players to figure out how each one is motivated and how each one likes to pull themselves out of the hole. And that comes from the player themselves. And they need to share that with us. I completely agree with you, Coach Budd. And what do you do to enhance team bonding off the field with your team? Oh, that has been an extreme challenge. You know, this season we've had, or this past season in 2021, after being off for so long and then coming back with a number of restrictions, we couldn't go out to eat. We couldn't have large group gatherings. And, you know, with a team of 27 people, that qualifies as a large group gathering. You know, some of our team, our golf team, you know, our tennis teams, they're a little bit smaller. So you can get away with different restrictions because of the numbers. But with our large team size, we couldn't really do any bonding. And it's, there's a very limited amount that you can get to know somebody over Zoom. So for, we had, this year, we actually had two freshman classes because in terms of experience, our sophomores didn't play a minute of Division One, and our freshmen hadn't played a minute of Division One. So now, you know, trying to get two classes to get to know upper-classmen, you know, who are juniors and seniors, that's hard enough as it is because there's not a lot of commonality where, you know, because you're in different levels of school, you're, you're focusing on different things. Some are just starting their careers, some are getting out of their career, and they're thinking about the future. So it's really hard to find that common ground when you can't do bonding. So what we usually like to do is take the team out for a retreat. We want to go to Mokolia, do a little camping, you know, do some satellite soccer at different locations and maybe go on a hike or have a beach day. But all of that came to a grounding halt. So now we're very much looking forward to, you know, doing those little things. Our captains have implemented, you know, a team bonding Friday, where after every session on Friday, they do some kind of bonding, whether it's going out to eat or having a talk or doing some kind of, you know, silly activity at the field. And that came up on their own. I talked to my captains this past week and they said, hey, you know, team bonding is the number one focus for us. So we're going to do that, you know, every Friday as a group. And I thought that was fantastic because that's a good example of them driving their own bus. So we would like to do a little retreat as soon as possible. I'll be breaking out the Traeger Grill, grilling for them, making some brisket and some doing some barbecue at my house as soon as the numbers come down a little bit. Oh, you're so right. I mean, the doing team bonding things off the field is so critical. And Coach Budd, who's a coach or leader that you admire and why? Oh, I think, you know, in my life, I've had many different mentors who have really, you know, influenced me in very positive ways. You know, my first coach was a gunnery sergeant in the Marines, Ramon Arjen, and he taught me the discipline. You know, if you so much as, you know, cough the wrong way, you're running laps. And I can remember running the hills of Camp Smith with his Marines and, you know, trying to hit for seven minute miles when we were in sixth grade, you know, so it was that school of hard knocks definitely developed that side of me where I respected people who were hard and I respected people who gave it to me straight. And then, you know, when I got to Comeaamea, my high school coach, Renee Martin, was completely the opposite. You know, I can remember her, you know, being a wife and a graduate student trying to get her, finish up her master's degree at UH, you know, and I remember being in the car with her one day when she was going to pick up her final exam paper and she came back and it had a big red A on it, you know, and I remember thinking at that time like, wow, this woman is married. She's getting her graduate degree. She's coaching us at Comeaamea and, you know, trying to start a career as an educator. So she was the one of the people that kind of taught me like, why not strive for everything? Why not try to get everything that you want? You know, why? Why not? And so, you know, I do have to give Renee props for that. And then, you know, Jerry Smith, my coach at Santa Clara, was very influential on me actually becoming a coach. You know, he showed me how to build something from nothing. And, you know, he came in the spring of my freshman year. And by the time I left, we were in the final four. So, you know, he broke the program down. He got rid of people on the team who were friends of mine, but who just didn't want to work that hard. And I think, you know, in my time at UH, I've tried to be very compassionate. But I think I'm at the point where, you know, I've really grown to understand what Jerry Smith did and how hard it was to cut people who were good people, you know. So, very different levels of, you know, discipline and compassion and doing the right thing for the program. But all three of those people have really influenced who I am as a coach. I like hearing that as well. And coach, but I want to talk to you more about my books. You mentioned earlier about the four Ps. And I like that you have empathy for your players. And your players know that you have empathy for them. That's a key thing. And obviously, you know, we both agree that you need discipline because discipline leads to habits, which leads to success. What are some other things that stood out to you in my books that you liked? Well, the, I think, you know, the, the first thing very early on was, was choices, you know, and that's something that I don't think enough people think about. They feel like, you know, oh, my mom is making me play. My dad is so hard on me. But guess what? We have choices in life. And you can choose to be a part of things and you can choose not to. Now, granted, when you're younger, your parents dictate a lot of what is going to be happening in your life. But I think the earlier players understand that they have choices to make and the choices are going to be good or they're going to, and sometimes they're bad, but at the end of the day, they're ours. And that was something that, you know, right away in your book you talk about. And, you know, I think the, that knowledge is power. That's something else, you know, that really spoke to me. And I think the, the learning from our mistakes and, and, you know, not an understanding that failure is, is not a bad thing. You know, you're not going to win all the time. But what are we going to learn from these experiences where we're missing the mark a little bit? You know, and, and I think you had a quote in there, you know, about, you know, when you, when you're failing, it gives you an opportunity to have an intelligent response to change things, right? And to, to start all over and hit the reset button. And that is really, really important in athletics. So, but the four P's they really, really did that. That was the, the most important thing I think for me, when you outline, you know, people and, and defining your purpose and, and trusting the process and identifying what that process is and making sure that you fine tune that process, because your people are going to change every single year. So it's up to you to figure out what makes them tick and how you're going to motivate them. You know, and then lastly, that performance factor. So those were, I think the consistency, you know, in your actions and just how you respond to things. And I really liked how, you know, failure is not a bad thing. It's something that we can take, you know, that that's going to teach us. And that was just fantastic. Coach Budd, you're going to be my promoter for my books. I mean, that's absolutely terrific right there. And I'm glad that you mentioned all of those things, because those things, I mean, that's so necessary for success and for performance or to get the results that you want. And I want to ask you, Coach Budd, you know, a lot of players or a lot of employees, they, they don't really know sometimes what the leader goes through. What are some challenges that, that you deal with as a coach? I think my, my challenge is, especially as I get older, I found that, you know, when I was a younger coach, I had, you know, an ego that, you know, drove me to think that I was only going to be a good coach if I won all the time. And it, you know, you're dying to prove yourself as a young coach. So sometimes you, you think about cutting those corners to, to get you to a point where you're just going to win. But then we understand, as we get older, that winning is not sustainable when you cut corners like that. And just when you think you figured something out, the kids change again. And, you know, one of the biggest challenges for me as I get older is, is really remembering that no matter who these kids are, we're all the same. You know, people always talk about like, Oh, the millennials, this millennials that Oh, give me a break. We were driving our parents crazy as they drove their parents crazy. You know, so it's not about the millennials, it's about the generations as, as the world changes. And it gets more technical. And, and, you know, there are, there's so much more savviness in the kids than we had because of the advances in technology. We have to adapt as coaches. And I think I, I struggle with airing on the side of caution too much. I think I, I've had a tendency to overthink things and maybe baby kids a little bit, you know, and I think I need to give them more credit that they're actually more resilient and tougher than we think, you know, but I found that I only do that once I got past 45, 46 years old, because as a 30 year old coach, I never did that. So keeping myself in check, that's a big challenge. Well, coach, bud, I love, I love hearing all of these insights from you. And, you know, you, it just goes to show that, that you're such a great leader with, with an impressive positive energy personality. And I can see why you've created such a great culture of excellence with your teams. And I really want to thank you for taking time to be on the show today. Well, thank you, Rusty. It's been very, very enjoyable. And I really, really did enjoy your book. So thank you so much for, for sharing with all of us, you know, at University of Hawaii. I thought it was just amazing that you took the time to sign, you know, copies for every single head coach. I mean, it was just phenomenal. So thank you. Thanks, coach bud. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on ThinkTech Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKomori.com. And my books are available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I hope that coach bud and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.