Episode #22 - Chase Your Dreams with Kofi

In this episode we take a deep dive into what it takes to chase your dreams. Kofi discusses the power of learning from your failures, learning from your teammates, and the tool of reframing. We talk about how easy it is to be swept up in the lifestyle of a professional artist, how he has learned to balance two promising careers and the consequences of taking 4 years off from volleyball. Oh, we also heard about Kofi’s conversation with Lebron James in a hotel elevator. 

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Transcript

0:00

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Pit to Pro podcast. In this episode, we're joined by Kofi. Kofi is a UCLA alumnus, a professional volleyball player in the French National League, and a signed recording and touring artist. Expect to learn how Kofi dealt with getting caught up in the traps of the Los Angeles music industry, how reframing has changed his perspective on failure, the impact of good role models in coaching positions, and how Kofi ended up riding an elevator with LeBron James and having dinner with Max Verstappen. Before we get started, I'd like to introduce our newest partner on the Pit to Pro podcast. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to hit harder and score more points. That's why we've decided to partner up with the athlete wellness Academy to deliver you guys the best in arm swing training With their new Arm Swing Academy, you'll receive personalized video analysis and feedback, along with individualized workouts and on court drills. for joining us. Continuous technical support and a dedication to this process will have you hitting harder and playing pain free. AWA has worked extensively with the three of us at the Pit to Pro podcast, as well as the top university programs across the country. If that sounds like something you want to be a part of, sign up for the Arm Swing Academy using the link in our show notes or Instagram bio, and get 10 off every month of your subscription. The Arm Swing Academy offers a 7 day free trial, which you can cancel at any time, and if you're not seeing progress after one month of joining the Academy, you will be refunded. It's completely risk free, so click the link in our show notes or Instagram bio and start your 7 day free trial today. But now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Kofi. Hello and welcome to the Pit the Pro podcast. Jesse, Matthias, and Aaron Elson. This podcast is meant to guide young athletes on their journey to high performance. Join us as we share our first hand experiences in an effort to help you reach your own valuable goals.

Jesse 1:44

And we're live. And we're live. Thanks, Kofi, for joining us. Hell yeah. Um, a couple days ago, you said that you hate Drake. Can you explain, expand upon that a little bit?

Kofi 1:58

Those are your words. And, um, we're still not talking because of that. So, uh, yeah, after this, don't talk to me.

Jesse 2:06

That's funny. No, that's not my first real question. Um, my first real question is, What would you say to kids who might be thinking or might be told that their dreams are too big or too unrealistic?

Kofi 2:21

I think what I would say is you just gotta follow keep on doing what you like Life is about like the journey, you know, not necessarily the destination. Destinations are cool, but you got to spend your life doing something that you enjoy. So if that's chasing your dreams, you got to love the chase. Can't just be about the goal. You got to love the chase. So do something that you enjoy. Whatever your dream is, if you enjoy doing it, for whatever reason, I'd say do it. Did I see

Mathias 2:53

somewhere that you had a teacher or something or someone say that you'd never make it? That's what I was going to ask. I was going to ask if that was purely for social

Jesse 3:01

media or if someone actually told you that.

Kofi 3:03

Oh, that was, that was a hundred percent serious. Like I had a teacher, my grade 11 chemistry teacher. I would always just. Miss class for like real purposes for like, Oh, I have like a term of provincials. You know what I mean? Oh, I have nationals. I'm sorry. I'm not here. And she's like, Oh, well, like, you know, you're not going to be a pro athlete. And then she also said like, you're not going to be a singer. And well, you know, Here we

Jesse 3:28

are. Did that kind of like fuel the fire a little bit? Like, did you know back then that that's what you wanted to do?

Kofi 3:35

I knew that I was on a path to be probably a pro athlete, like a pro volleyball player back then, but um, the music thing, it just had no traction. Like the thing about music is like, it's, it's impossible until it's possible, you know, and it happens super quick. So it's kind of just like a dream that you chase because you like chasing it until it becomes something that you can actually see yourself doing as like a job. And like, Not even a job. It's not, it's not even really a job, but like something that can actually like support yourself with, you know what I mean?

Jesse 4:06

But that's a, that's a good point. Cause I was just going to say like, do either of your jobs really feel like jobs? No, no, no. This

Kofi 4:13

I would do for free and music I'd do for free. So at this point, I'm just a kid. No, that's cool.

Mathias 4:23

Where was that point? Or is there a specific point where in your music career, you were like, man, this, this is real now?

Kofi 4:33

Yeah. So I, um, so in my second year, I got injured. I tore like a ligament in my thumb. So I was really at that point, like, I, uh, I had all this time to just kind of work on music. So I pissed off my roommate a little bit cause I was in a dorm with like two people, you know, turn it into a little studio. And then when he got pissed off, I moved into like the team room, but at UCLA we had like a crazy team room. So I had it in there for a bit. So I'd always just be, you know, making music and then in my second year, but at this point it's still a hobby. Second year is still a hobby. But, um, because of in my first year, I should say, I like started getting, I guess, bigger on social media. Like ESPN started posting like my volleyball highlights and whatnot, and just playing in the U S like they really like pay attention to their athletes. So just off of that, people started, I started getting like people listening to my music and, you know, positive feedback that they actually like it. So from there, it started to grow a little bit, but I would say in my second year, that's when it became. That's when it became like, Oh, I could just do this full time because I dropped my song called came up immediately started going crazy. It hit like a million views in like, I don't know, like a couple months. And then it just kept on going. And even until today, it's still going. But, um, yeah, after that, A bunch of labels just came calling and I'm like, Oh, okay. I could either play a first year contract as a middle, which, you know, we're all volleyball players. We know that's, you know, it's not, you're not getting rich over there. Or I could play, or I could do a first year music contract, which is like, I don't know, a God level middle. So then it's like, I enjoy doing both equally. So it's like, you know, let me figure out what I can do kind of more.

Mathias 6:35

make that decision at the time? I mean, there's obviously the money factor, which is a big factor. Um, but what was kind of the criteria?

Kofi 6:45

so I think, well, it was COVID there was COVID. So if I went back, um, I just wasn't really a big fan of like the whole, you know, playing with masks on and nobody's there type of thing. Um, and I definitely didn't want to be in LA for the pandemic, you know, like when it was first starting, it was pretty freaky. I'm in LA and like, there's no food on the shelves, there's no toilet paper for some reason, you know? So I was like, all right, let me just get back to Canada and see what's going on. So if I was going to continue playing, I'd UCLA. And I had another year of eligibility, but, um, yeah, it was either that, or I just continue full time with this record record deal that I just signed. So I decided to just go with the, go with the record deal. And, um, honestly, I think that was like me living every 21 year old's dream, you know, like you're a signed record. Or recording artists, like that's not every kid's dream, but like, it is probably my dream, you know, like at that point in my life,

Jesse 7:51

yeah, talk us through coming back to volleyball. Like, when did you realize, like, did you, were you like, Oh, I missed volleyball or was there something missing in your life or

Kofi 8:03

what happened there? So I noticed pretty early in my not working out period, which was like three years of strict, not working out. Um, I go pretty crazy if I don't work out. So I would go through phases where I'm like doing the most ridiculous workouts for no reason, no goal. But just because, you know, this helps my mind be like at peace. And then, um, in my fourth year not playing, like I guess last year, I was doing Muay Thai full time, like convinced. I'm like, Oh, I'm about to have my first fight. You know, I, I think I'm watching like high level highlights and like, I'm watching film, like exactly how like we study volleyball players. I was watching like MMA fighters and kickboxers and, you know, Muay Thai fighters, cause I was, I was going to do that. And then I was like, Yeah, I'm in the best shape of my life now. Cause I've just been doing Muay Thai twice a day, every day for a year. Maybe I should just go play volleyball because I'm already, you know, kind of good at it, that's kind of where I was when I came back, And plus like, there's a lot of things in the music industry that I really don't like. And those things don't exist in pro athletics.

Jesse 9:16

Like what, like, what do you appreciate about the professional volleyball life or lifestyle?

Kofi 9:21

I appreciate like. Hard work is like the number one currency. You know what I mean? in music, it sounds ridiculous to people that aren't in the industry, but like, I've been in the industry for like a bunch of years, like deep in it, lived in LA, you know, like did the whole songwriting circuit thing, producer circuit thing, it's almost like hard work. Isn't good. Like hard work. Oh, this guy is trying too hard. He must not be sick. whereas in volleyball or any sport, you Anything else in life, like that is. You know, if you are 100 percent dedicated to something and you do this like fully, this pursuit is going to reward you. So that's something that I appreciate a lot in volleyball.

Jesse 10:05

That's cool. But that's also probably why you got noticed in the music industry in the first place is because you worked so hard at your craft. So it's kind of like, almost like sad in

Kofi 10:14

a way, there's, there's definitely something to be said for like having a crazy work ethic in music. But um, what I'll say is like, it's not as easy to be rewarded for having a great work ethic. Like in sports, if you work at something, you're going to get better at it. It's almost like, like almost 100 percent sure, you know, if you're working towards the right thing, you're going to be better at it. In music, it's like, what's the right thing, you know, like, I could write the best song, you know, one of you can love it and one of you can be like, that's terrible, is a super subjective where volleyball in any sport is just completely objective and you have a goal, a clear goal that you can work towards. And it's not something that's always shifting under your feet.

Jesse 10:59

That's cool. do your careers interfere with each other? Like if you're having a bad day musically or a bad day voluntarily, does that affect your performance or your outlook of your other career? Because, because conquering one career is hard, it's stressful, but conquering two and at the level you're at is incredible. Probably

Kofi 11:20

unheard of. I guess what I would say is like. In my four years at UCLA, one thing that I learned from Sparrow, uh, I mean, I learned so many things from him. Uh, but one thing that I definitely came away with, not just volleyball related is like how you frame things. So I always try to frame it like a privilege. so like, even when I don't have good things going on over here, I always have something good going on there. and they both kind of play off each other like that. And it's also, it takes off pressure because. I could just not be doing one thing and I would be absolutely fine, which I guess doesn't sound that good, but that's, that's really how I just see it in my head. It's like, I'm, it's a privilege for me to be doing both. So if one's not going so well, it, it really doesn't matter. Let's detach those emotions and continue working. You know?

Mathias 12:20

What are some of your other favorite things that you learned from Spra?

Kofi 12:25

Oh, let me think.

Mathias 12:27

Volleyball related? Could be anything. I like the framing thing. That's why I asked. And also, he's a legendary volleyball coach. Recently retired, so.

Kofi 12:38

I guess.

Mathias 12:39

Or promoted. I don't know

Kofi 12:41

which

Mathias 12:41

one it is. Yeah, true.

Kofi 12:44

Um, well, one thing I appreciate about his coaching style is he like really is invested in not just coaching you as a volleyball player, uh, which I think is important at the university level. He's like coaching you on how to, like how to be a man. Like how to. And when I say that, I mean, like how to take care of your responsibilities on and off the court, like in life, you know what I mean? So that's one thing that he really tried to hammer into us. And I think, like, I'm very grateful for that.

Jesse 13:13

That's cool. I heard, uh, I was talking to my teammate from last year, Matt, and he was with the A team for the U. S. this summer, and he was saying that Spra's main role on the team, even though he's the head coach, was like a mindset coach. And they had like a defensive coach, an offensive coach, a, uh, whatever, setting coach, and he almost didn't talk volleyball at all. He just helped guys with their mind. And I thought that was so cool that you're a head coach, but you almost don't even talk about volleyball. Your goal is to just make them as good of people or as good a version of themselves as they can be on the court.

Kofi 13:50

Yeah, that's yeah, he's so like he's forward thinking very forward thinking and he's always trying to look at what no one's doing and see if he can do something to get the edge. Um, very, very well read. So he, he's always reading something and trying it, which I think is like amazing as a head coach, you know, to try new things, like amazing.

Jesse 14:18

I want to, I want to go back to this reframing thing. And do you experience that? Let's say for you example, right now you're working on your serve. That's something that you're working on really hard. How do you reframe that and the ups and downs that come with coming back to a high level of volleyball and trying to get back to the serve that you know that you can produce, but it's not working at the moment. How do you reframe that into something positive and still perform every Saturday night to a really, really high level and one of. the top leagues in the world.

Kofi 14:53

Right. That's still something I'm trying to try to exactly figure out that reframe, but, um, I'm basically seeing it as something that I can add to my game. And then, like, I think that the sky's kind of the limit for me, you know, once I add that, so seeing it more as a positive instead of like, I cannot serve, like, seeing as what it could be, what's the positive and motivates me to work towards it every day. Like today, you know, after weights went in and cost a bunch of balls and then, you know, served a bunch of balls, just got to get after it, you know? So I think for me, the reframe, it's like. Taking every negative into an opportunity and then something that you can structure a plan, like a goal that you can structure a plan to get towards. I

Mathias 15:44

love that. Yeah. I think there's some science around kind of how, how motivation works and maybe motivation is the wrong word, but you need something to run towards and you also need something to run away from. And it's pretty easy. I think we always create the thing to run away from, or a lot of the time we do when it's just fear. It's like, Oh, what if I can't serve? I'm, I'm a bad server. What if this doesn't go well? Um, but it takes some conscious effort to create that future image of if things go well. And I think that's the most powerful kind of state to be in. Because you know what either side looks like, and then you can run away from the fear and run towards the goal. You know

Kofi 16:25

what I like to call that? And this, this thing has like a terrible rep, but like manifestation, when it only works if you like do the work to actually get there, you know, you can't just like, Rub a crystal and be like, I'm going to be a good server. But like seeing the image of you, what you want to do, and then actually planning how you're going to get there and working towards it every single day and enjoying the work. Like, it's not like I go today and just in a gym by myself and serve because I'm like, my serve sucks. It's like, yo, this is my job. I live in the South of France. I live two steps from the beach and all I have to do is, you know, get better at serving. This is crazy. You know, this is amazing. Life does not get better than this, you know?

Jesse 17:13

That's really cool. Will, will you ever be satisfied? in either of your careers?

Kofi 17:23

That's an interesting question. Um, I'd like to say yeah, uh, but I know that, you know, once you usually get to a goal, usually more goals come up. But um, I think I'm gonna have to make a conscious, conscious effort to be satisfied because my goal isn't like, you know, Like I'm not one of those people that like their goal is to, I don't know, take over the world, be the biggest artist ever, be the highest paid volleyball player ever. That's not my goal, My goal is to do a bunch of things that I'm proud of and then be able to support a family. Those are my goals. So just remembering what the actual goals are. in life as opposed to just in the endeavors because I think all things in perspective and there's a cost to everything. So

Jesse 18:13

what kind of costs or, uh, sacrifices have you had to make for To get to where you are now. Yeah. Following your two dreams at once.

Kofi 18:27

Well, I think one big cost and one big sacrifice that I had to make. to pursue music in the way that I did, uh, and am, is not play for four years. I don't think I would be anywhere near where I am in the music industry had I been playing. Uh, I wouldn't have been in, been in the rooms that I was in, uh, on some of the songs that I was on. Um, wouldn't have been on two, you know, like Europe tours because we wouldn't have had any time. Uh, so that's a big sacrifice there, there. And then, um, also like vice versa on the. On the volleyball side, like to be here, I'm missing out on a lot of things. Like I have an album coming out. I'm not going to be promoting it in the exact same way that I usually would. You know, usually you go into like a bunch of radio stations, you'll do a radio tour, you'll, um, do a bunch of, you know, interviews, but now I'm here in the middle of season playing and I'm don't get me wrong. I'm very happy that I'm doing that. And I don't think it's actually going to make the music suffer because, um, I mean, we get into like social media and like the marketing of it. But like both things bring eyes to the music.

Jesse 19:43

If, if it was making your music suffer and you had to make a choice right now, which one would you pick?

Kofi 19:55

I'm not going to lie right now. I'm really loving playing volleyball. It's very refreshing. I just spent four years over there, uh, working towards something that keeps changing. Uh, whereas here, this doesn't change the sport. Even though like, you know, like people, like the sport evolves, it's still the same sport that it's always been. So the rules are always the same. It's like something like skills that. You can build skills and then those skills are going to be useful and you know they're going to be useful so I'm enjoying that and I'm also enjoying like the uh structure to the schedule because in music zero structure like which might sound nice because we're all people with structured schedules but like You got to be up to like 6 a. m. in a studio session and don't get me wrong. It's fun. But then now you're flying across the world to like, I don't know, it's just like a crazy schedule, whereas this is like, there's actually some structure, you can kind of get a routine going, which I appreciate it for now, but I don't think there'll ever be a time that I stopped doing music, I think. I can do music wherever I am, like here in the South of France, I already made like three songs out here. So I don't think I'll ever stop.

Jesse 21:09

It's

Mathias 21:09

in your blood now.

Kofi 21:10

Yep.

Mathias 21:14

Who was your inspiration to start making music?

Kofi 21:17

Um, one of my coaches is actually crazy. One of my volleyball coaches, my assistant coach on my club team, his name is Brandon. Um, he was making music and, uh, I was always like, yo, like I can make music too, you know what I mean? Cause I, I was, I was like classically trained in, you know, Piano, know how to read and write music, played, like, played some guitar, but really I played piano and trombone, but that doesn't sound as cool. Um, so, like, I'm just Like, doesn't sound as cool to say or doesn't sound as cool musically? Honestly, you know what's crazy? This album, the first song in this album, I'm playing trombone on it. The first time ever, not really like, but yeah, like I always knew that I knew how, I know how to put songs together. I know how to put music together. I know when something is like, that shouldn't be there or not. That shouldn't be there. Cause it's all subjective, but like, I know. I know, I speak the language of music fluently and I've always spoken that language. So when my coach, when I saw my coach, who I saw three times a day, or not, sorry, three times a week, because we practiced back then three times a week, um, making music and he's already someone that I look up, looked up to still do, um, I was like, yo, I can do this too. I got to do this. So started getting into it and when I'm a nerd, so when I get into something, I'm like, I'm in it.

Jesse 22:45

How many, uh, board games have you bought since you moved to the South of France?

Kofi 22:49

I'm into board games now. It's a problem. I'm

Jesse 22:51

broke.

Kofi 22:52

I don't know, probably like 10 games.

Jesse 22:55

I think that's a, that's a cool personality trait though. Like for someone like you who is, you know, Reach these two huge pinnacles of two separate careers. You almost have to be not crazy, but you got to be a little crazy. Like you have to dive headfirst to get to where you are in both.

Kofi 23:17

Full headfirst. That's me. I just kind of go into everything. Like if I get interested in anything, I, I'm two feet in diving🤿in, like anything, you know, I got into astronomy🪐I have like, I, I'm ashamed to say how much I spent💰on this telescope🔭but like, it's like electronic. You could see👀anything you want. You could see deep space objects🛸You just type in what you want to see on a remote📱and it just like, it just turns to it, you know? I get into, I, I go fully actually this summer I'm gonna have to show you that'cause. It's crazy🤯to look through it. That's awesome.

Mathias 24:01

What was the lowest point that you've experienced so far in your music career at first?

Kofi 24:11

In my music career, I'd say it's, um, it's actually probably the thing that I grew up the most from. So, um, let me think how to say this. Uh, just kind of coming out of that, coming back to reality. I think when I was like early, early twenties, I lived in a bit of delusion Like I had, I had great things going for me, but um, like I was just spending way too much money that wasn't actually coming in and, realizing, oh, I'm actually at zero. Let me, you know, let me rein it in, focus on what I need to focus on and build back. um, that was the lowest point that happened, I'd say, I think, one year after I got out of school. So that was a great learning experience for me. I think everyone kind of needs to go through that. I see my life as like two things, kind of like before that and after that. But yeah, I was in like a hole that I dug myself out of in like eight months. And after that. Kept on going up. So ever since that I've been, I've been great. And it's also something that is like, if I need to really reframe something, it's like, uh, you missed every single serve you've served in the last seven games, but you will never be there. You know what I mean? I don't know if I explained that well.

Mathias 25:39

Yeah, I get it. We're just maybe swept up by the lifestyle and the environment around you.

Kofi 25:52

Yeah. That's one thing about being an artist. It's very, very easy to get like. lost in like, everything is flex as hard as you can. Everything is like, you have to act like you're the guy before you're the guy to be the guy. And even Drake said it like spends his like last dollar on, on getting like, I don't know what it was like a Bentley before he had Bentley money, all part of like curating the image. So, uh, you, you get lost in this space where it's like, what's marketing and what's just me being. that really wants to spend all my money on a chain, you know what I mean? that's like something that's really hard to balance. And I'm, because of that, I'm grateful that the music thing didn't go as far as I wanted it to go so early because Right now, if it goes as far as I want it to go, I have a bit of a head on my shoulders, you know, like I understand what to do. Whereas back then it's like, I don't know, you're just so young, you know, all you know is school. You come out of school, boom, here's 150, 000. Good luck. You know, it's not, it's not good.

Mathias 27:05

So you can You probably have a ton of perspective when people get famous young and they just implode. You got a little taste of that and luckily you didn't have enough

Kofi 27:17

stuff to play with where it could go that bad. Yeah, I played with everything that I had to play with, and then some, and then some, and then I, uh, and then I had to work my way back from the, and then some. Luckily, I like was able to do that very quickly and, you know, continue on and now I'm chilling. But yeah, we have this thing in the industry. A lot of people say like whatever age you blow up and I'm talking like blow up, blow up whatever age you blow up at. And when he's no longer an issue, that's the age you're going to stay for the rest of your life. So if you blow up when you're like 12, you're going to be 12 years old mentally for the rest of your life.

Jesse 27:58

Oh, interesting.

Kofi 28:00

Yeah. So, you know, now I'm 26. I'd rather be 26 for the rest of my life than 21. Or maybe I'll regret that in a couple of years and I'll be like, ah, I'd rather be 30 for the rest of my life. You know?

Mathias 28:16

That's interesting though. Thanks for sharing that.

Kofi 28:18

Of course.

Mathias 28:21

What's been the high?

Kofi 28:25

There's been a lot of highs, honestly. There's been a lot more highs. Um, it's probably performing. Yeah. Performing is really cool. It's crazy. It's like probably the craziest adrenaline rush. Come on Drake spit it out. but um, you have to learn how to control the adrenaline for singing because adrenaline like boosts your heart rate, makes you like breathe a lot more, which is just not good for singing because you know, you have to have like breath control. Um, but yeah, one of the highs, actually two highs probably, it's got to be the travel that I've done for music. Like I've, I've gone to some pretty cool places. I've gone to Ghana, I've gone to Nigeria, Lagos, I've done two European tours. I think the European tours are probably the highs. I had a show in Paris on my first tour. And then on this last one, I had a show in Hamburg. That was crazy. And just the love that you get out there is wild. Like, like nothing you'll get in North America just because I don't know people in North America. They just want to be cool. Whereas here, like they actually just enjoy music. Like in Germany, they actually just go out to enjoy music. So, uh, you get like a crazy response there as an artist. And it's amazing.

Jesse 29:56

Do you think performing in front of that many people has helped calm your nerves when a big game is coming up? Um, I've always been pretty good with pressure. Um, when it comes to volleyball, I think just having the music thing, uh, helps though, like having the fact that this is, this is not my livelihood. Like having that, it actually kind of helps with the pressure. Uh, that's also something that Spara kind of started saying, you know, like your whole identity can't be if you lose this game, it can't be crushed, your whole identity can't be volleyball. Like you have to have an identity outside of it. Um, which I do, I do have. I think it's just having another layer to my, who I am as a person, my identity and myself. I guess because, because music or performing in music, it's almost, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's almost all in your control, right? Like the lights, the sound, the songs, whereas volleyball is a lot out of your control. So it's actually not that similar.

Kofi 31:13

Yeah. I mean, there are a lot of people, I'm first off, I should say I'm a complete control freak when it comes to like, when it comes to me performing, like sometimes I'm like engineering myself on stage just because I can't. Like I can't have someone mess that up, you know, like I need it to sound perfect. Um, so yeah, it is different in that aspect. Like there's, you can control every single thing. Sometimes your voice is fighting with you or you're fighting with your voice, but, um, yeah, that's, it's all kind of in your control. Very, very different, I guess, from volleyball because like sometimes nothing's in your control. You can read the whole game plan. You can make your own game plan on top of the game plan. You can watch every single game they've ever played and they do something different.

Jesse 31:59

Like yesterday? Yeah. Yeah. Like yesterday. That's funny. Well, okay. I want, I want to ask you the question that you asked me the other day. You asked me if I thought the best blockers were field blockers or analytical blockers. Have you thought more about that?

Kofi 32:24

I'm still trying to figure it out. I thought analytical for sure. And then I tried to do the analytical thing. like this last game. I'm like, you know what? No excuses. I'm going to do every single thing that can be done to see if it results in more blocks. Nope. I like ran into a brick wall with that one. I did like eight hours of scouting and one block in the game. After having like five blocks in like, you know, against Turquoise, yeah, so I'm still trying to figure it out. I don't think I can base my thoughts off just one game because it is inherently random, but, um, I don't know. I'm going to do, I'm still going to continue with my, uh, my little experiment here of like doing five games of bully. Like I know every single thing every player wants to do in every moment. And I'm going to do five games of this. Uh, let me see how I feel. And I don't know, I think it's going to be somewhere in the middle, but I think it's just what works for different blockers, um, at the high level, that's only, I guess, this is all, I guess, just at like the highest level, like for people coming up. I'd say it does you no harm to watch as much film and game plan as much as you can, especially as a middle, like you have an impossible job. You have to block four people. You have to get to all four places. You got to know what they want to do. You got to know what they want to do when, you know, in each situation set is moving forward, set is moving back. if they repeat, likes to dump, if he likes to dump in certain situations. What, who's their go to at the end of the set? Like yesterday we learned who their go to was at the end of the set. They went to him like 50 times, so I'm saying like for younger people coming up, these are all things, especially as a middle blocker, you need to know because at our level and at the highest level in the world, there's less tendencies, but I think at the lower, lower levels, you'll be able to. Like there's a lot more to be done with that information. Does that make sense to you?

Jesse 34:32

Yeah, yeah. Well, I remember Ben Joe talking to us and saying that a game plan is only a starting position or a starting spot. And it's only worth two to three points a game, a game, not a set. Cause you're going to set up the way you plan and they're going to make adjustments and then you're going to make adjustments and then we're going to make adjustments. And that may be in a super high pressure situation, they'll default to what they really, really want. You know? And I think that's what we found the beginning of the game yesterday, they were doing things that we hadn't seen on video, which was probably a tactical plan on their part to get an advantage. But when the game got close, that's when it fell into the pattern, right? And that's when we got our big block. So we got one, I think we got a block at the end of each set, a big block to sway the momentum. So I think that's kind of the beauty of game planning is you have to be able to be flexible within that game plan and know when to use the game plan and when to use your, your instincts. You know, I think that's a cool way to look at it.

Mathias 35:40

What's been the evolution of Kofi as a player from, let's say club volleyball, then going to UCLA and now playing pro, not necessarily skill wise, but just your confidence, your understanding of the game. Um, All those intangible things. How did you view yourself as a player then and through all the stages to now?

Kofi 36:09

Um, so when I started, I was terrible. Uh, and I was terrible for like the first two years. Um, I started when I was 14, I was like garbage until I was 16. Uh, I had this great coach who. Also was a vertical jump coach. So he was like very focused on us jumping, which really worked well for me. Um, so I guess by the time I was finishing 16, you, I was. Jumping high starting to hit harder. I was still very, very skinny. Um, still could not block at all. Um, but I was figuring out my way on the attack. Uh, and then that continued to 18 you now in 18 you I started I was playing back row to I was also passing. Um, so my I guess ball control for middle. It was getting a lot, like, really developed, um, because when I started, I had none. 16u, still none, um, and then going to UCLA, I think my game, like, got way more polished. Um, just like all the little things that, like, not the big things, the things that I'm good at now, I was good at in 18u, like, attacking, hitting, hitting this, finding angles, seeing the block, like, that stuff I'm good at now. It's the bread and butter of my game, but I was, I've been good at that since 18U. Um, I don't know. In, at UCLA, I got a lot better hitting off the net. That's now a big part, I'd say, of my game, being a threat, um, from three meters. Uh, actually in the game yesterday, I was watching, there was one commit that Jackson threw on me, and I'm at, like, Two and a half meters. So I'm like, yeah, that's good. You know, um, that came in at that point also just still like more reps, more touches, uh, getting a bit more polished. And then I'd say blocking became, I became better at blocking, uh, when I came back, cause I wasn't a great blocker before I still don't consider myself a great blocker, but I think I'm definitely a block, right. That attack has got to be, you know, aware of. When they're hitting because, um, I think that's just maturity. I think having the maturity, having the patience and having like the mental rigidity to know what you're gonna do and don't like get caught, like doing half things like you're committing or you're fully reading. You know what I mean? I think that's come back recently. Sorry, I know I ramble.

Mathias 39:01

No, that's, that's cool. What would you say to yourself in those first couple of years when you were really bad? I'm sure it wasn't easy wanting to be a volleyball player and not being able to perform.

Kofi 39:17

Honestly, it was super easy. I, um, my club team, we were the closest team I've ever seen. Uh, it was basically just a bunch of. Kids from Scarborough, um, that some of them played basketball before, none of them played volleyball before, uh, and a coach that, like, knew way too much about what he's doing at that time, but he was kind of young too, like, he was 25 when we were in 18U, so, he was really young when he started coaching us, you know, like, he's 21, like, he can fully relate to us, he, he built that culture so well. So it became something, even though I was terrible, like I had so much fun going to practice and so much fun going to his house after, like, I would long board to his house and like ride my bike to his house to go watch film, you know, just like his parents house. He lived with his parents at the time, you know, he's that young. Uh, I think just my coach making it such an enjoyable experience and my teammates, you know, the type of team that we had was, it was like some of the best years of my life, even though I was terrible. I think that. I'm a big believer that if like, if as a coach, you make it enjoyable for your players, you're going to get the most out of them. And I think that's fully just what happened there. Maybe that's something more that coaches can take away than players, but yeah, I just had so much fun, even when I was terrible. So it really didn't matter that I was terrible. And then I just got good.

Mathias 40:55

That's amazing. Cause we talked about that quite a bit, actually on the podcast. We have a big theme of, of just having fun. Kevin Tilley mentioned it. And everyone actually, since I said that having fun has got to be a priority, honestly, at every stage in your career.

Kofi 41:13

Yeah. Cause like, we've all like, we've all had coaches that make it very fun. You want to come to practice every day and like, you know, you can't wait till you're till you're warmed up and ready to go into something fun. And then we've all also had coaches that suck the life out of the sport. Like it sucks. Like, I hate practice we've all had those coaches and those coaches make it hard to. Stay in a positive mind and like a creative minds mind space and like looking at ways to make your games better It's just like oh, I gotta do this, you know, don't make it a chore If it's a chore, you're not you know, no one looks at creative ways to get better at doing the dishes. You gotta like That is a quote and a half

Jesse 42:00

That's awesome. Well, can you speak to some other people, um, besides your club coach kind of behind the scenes that you can attribute a lot of your success to? Like I know, like for me, like I can name 100 people that helped me get my degree and 200 people that helped me through my back surgery and 300 people who helped me get to where I am now in the volleyball world. Like, can you, doesn't, obviously don't name a lot, but some that stick out in your mind that you're like, yeah, I would not be here without this person.

Kofi 42:29

Definitely my mom, you know, drove me to every single practice in the snow in her little Lexus. Uh, definitely my parents. I've gotten really, really lucky with coaches, though, like my coaches have been so much of the support like support team for me, even like in life, even when I'm not playing volleyball, spent four years not playing volleyball, my club head coach and my club assistant coach. Huge parts of my life, you know, just in everything. Um, even at UCLA, it's John. So I've always just been super lucky with coaches.

Jesse 43:14

I think that's amazing. I think that's cool. Cause I like Ben, for instance, like he was the same for me and I'm sure TSU too. I don't want to speak for you, but like you just. He made you want to be a better person, and you wanted to go to practice, and you wanted to succeed, like you got, you did well on a test, you wanted to tell him, because you know he cares so much. And I think that's a very underrated skill that many coaches don't have, or at least doesn't come naturally.

Kofi 43:44

Well yo, it's also like, this might be in line with what you're saying. It's like, my coaches were always people and are always people that I look up to in life, like not just in volleyball, you know, like, I kind of want to be like this person. This is a positive role model. So like, I'm going to do my best to try to do, you know, like what this person thinks is good, which is probably what's good for me, you know what I mean? So like, it's always been like that for me with the coaches, like not just in volleyball in life. Like spiral with the whole maturity thing and taking ownership, that's trying to do what the person you look up to has been, you know, preaching, I guess. I don't know if that makes sense for you guys, but like,

Mathias 44:27

I think that's worth thinking about as a teammate as well, especially in a probably university context, because I think in university as a fourth, fifth year, you, the influence you have on the young guys is crazy. There's nothing in the world that they want to be more than. Then just like you. And so you have the opportunity to lead them down a rabbit hole. If you're not taking care of yourself and things outside of the gym, or you can be a huge inspiration just as a coach might be as well, a

Kofi 45:04

hundred percent.

Mathias 45:06

And those are the best teammates are the people that you just want to be like, I think you can, you can take bits and pieces of everyone on our team. Um, that's why there's multiple leaders. I think everyone's got their own area where they're, they got a strength.

Kofi 45:23

Yeah, I also think like, it's important to take things from your teammates, like, I'm not like saying like, just copy their whole game, but like, in my first year at UCLA, I had a fourth year senior named Mitch Stahl, I don't think he plays anymore, but he was on the US national team for a bit, there's a bunch of things like I just always be asking things about blocking about attacking, like, what are you doing this situation, and you learn a lot. I'm doing the same thing here. With Max, like we have a vet middle on our team who's like, I don't know how old he is, but you know, like he's been playing for so long. He knows what he's doing in every single situation. He's just like a seasoned vet. So, and he runs a lot of routes that I don't run and he does a lot of stuff that I'd like to add to my game. So I'm always asking him stuff, even in the game. I'm like, yo, what do you see? Like, cause he's always telling me things about each setter that he's seeing. So I think it's important to just take what he's saying. What you can from every like everyone's a coach. Everyone's a teacher. You just have to figure out what they can teach you

Jesse 46:25

It's another fantastic quote

Mathias 46:29

What do you what do you think your strength is? What are you an expert in volleyball wise or life wise?

Kofi 46:38

Well crazy crazy question. I don't I don't know if I call myself An expert in that many things. Volleyball wise. I think I'm a jump expert. Like I think I'm, I'm an expert in using the, like in jump mechanics. Uh, like, cause if, if you see my straight up jump, like I can't just jump straight up from static, like that high, but with momentum using like a full approach, uh, and a lot of this is my coach that would teach us this every single practice. And, you know, work on it with us. But I think I'm definitely, that's where I'd say I'm an expert is using an approach to its full potential to get as high off the ground as you need to.

Mathias 47:25

We actually get this question quite a bit with kids wanting to jump higher. And there's obviously a big genetic component, but it's no accident that you might be the highest jumper in the world. It sounds like from all the work you put in, um, they're in those club years. So like, what do you think it's possible for people to improve their jump a significant amount and what are some of the things they might do?

Kofi 47:53

I I think 100 it is possible for almost everyone improve their jump. A lot of people look at it like strength training and plyometrics. And yeah, that is a big part of it, but I think. Learning how to use like the, like learning how to use all the levers in your body at the exact right time to jump is the biggest thing, so it's form. So like learning how to jump properly, like most people don't know how to jump. Most people at the club level don't know how to jump. At the pro level, it is a bit better. But that's just because all the people that didn't know how to really jump kind of got weeded out. But Like I couldn't jump like 20 inches when I started, you know, and now I'm, I don't know, like 40 something. So like. Me also like, you know, like puberty had like a role in that, but, um, and also strength training had a role in that, but it's also just mechanics. Like so much is mechanics, like get a good jump coach. And I have a good jump coach. If anyone needs, uh, who can teach you how to jump, because you probably have the muscle and you're just not getting. everything out of the muscle. It's like arm swing. You could be the most jacked, huge guy and not be able to hit the ball. Or you could be, I don't know, like Skyler from the professional team or Long Beach. Skinny guy, just blast the ball, you know?

Mathias 49:17

That's a really interesting point actually, because yeah, the arm swing analogy is great. There's this maybe somewhat correlation between muscle mass and how hard you hit the ball, but a lot of it is, is the technique and the speed. Yeah, for

Kofi 49:31

sure. I always like, like, I don't miss with jump form. there's a big difference, like mechanically between great and good, a little difference goes a long way when it comes to speed. You know what I mean? Absolutely.

Mathias 49:49

Um, I got a kind of a funny question. I'm wondering who's the most famous person you have in your contacts

Kofi 49:58

or my contacts

Mathias 50:01

or a famous, most famous person you've spent time with or worked with?

Kofi 50:07

Well, this is a crazy question. I'm trying to think I guess like I have funny stories about like Drake, I guess. Like, he's from Toronto. He's from where I'm from. Uh, first time I met him, he was like, Oh, I know you from volleyball. Like I guess he saw like the highlights on like House of Highlights or whatever. It was after my first year at UCLA. We are at this crazy, this crazy party, uh, downtown Toronto at LaVelle, which is like, this is my first time, like going out, like kind of in like a club. And it's like Drake and LeBron co hosting an event. so like, I'm like backstage and like hanging out with all these people and I was in an elevator with LeBron going up to LaVelle, which is like on the roof. So like, long elevator ride and he was just grilling me on like, oh, why didn't you go to Ohio State? And I'm like, what do you mean why I didn't go to Ohio State? He's like, are they good? Yeah, they won the last two years, you know, like I couldn't even tell me that they were not good because they were great. So I don't know. But the thing about Drake is like, he's down to talk all day about like sports and whatnot. Like, but when it comes to music, he's, he does not talk, he does not want to talk about music. I don't know. I don't know what it is. Well, that's

Mathias 51:33

wild. Yeah. That's exactly what I was hoping for. That's exactly what I was hoping for. Long elevator ride with LeBron James. That's, that's cool.

Kofi 51:45

That was a wild one. I'm trying to think if there's anything else, there probably is, but I don't know. You've met Max Verstappen, right? Yeah. Yeah. That's another thing. Being signed to Red Bull. Uh, F1 is just like a realistic thing that you can just go to. So we went to, um, me and one of my homies, we went to the one in Montreal, I think like last year. And yeah, we were just like chilling, like in the back area, like where all the drivers are. And so met like every single driver. And then Red Bull, I think they changed the name of the team, but like back when it was AlphaTauri, uh, they had like two drivers. One of them was Yuki Sonoda. So we had like lunch and then he told me not to stand next to him cause he's, he's like, I don't know, five something. He's not that tall. Uh, but yeah. And then had dinner with like, bunch of drivers. It's one thing about being signed to Red Bull, you get to, you get some F1 perks. Wow, that's cool.

Mathias 52:58

all right. Probably the last question here. What would be some advice you'd give to your younger self, volleyball wise, or music wise, or life wise, knowing what you know now?

Kofi 53:19

I'd say, this is crazy, this is a crazy question, because I don't know if I would have actually, if I could go back, I don't know if I actually would have done much different. I think like, all the mistakes that I did make, like were necessary mistakes, you know, like necessary character development. Um, I think I would tell myself to just enjoy all the processes and like enjoy everything that you do because I do live like a very enjoyable life. So just to like remind them that from day one that, you know, like you get, you, you're privileged to do things that people wish that they could do. So like, don't take it for granted and enjoy it even when they suck. Maybe that's what I would say.

Jesse 54:09

That's a really, really good perspective. Enjoy the trials and tribulations. Cause it's almost always worth it. I understand. That's awesome. Well, thanks a lot for coming on, man. Thanks for being super open and honest and sharing what it takes to reach two dreams. And we really appreciate your time.

Kofi 54:31

Of course. Thanks for having me. Appreciate you guys.

Mathias 54:35

Alrighty. I think that wraps up episode number 22 of the pitch pro podcast. Thanks everyone for listening, signing off.

54:47

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