A few years ago, Peter Burwash couldn't imagine that women's college volleyball would become his favorite sport. Ironically, the Hawaii Wahine may not have been able to successfully envision this week's trip to Cleveland and the final four without his help. The final four vision
has become realitySince May, motivational speaker Burwash has had the Hawaii players "seeing" themselves in the Cleveland State Convocation Center. He gave each Wahine a postcard to write down their respective goals for the season and then had them mail the postcards back.
"It's amazing how close each of them are to what they wrote down," said the founder of Peter Burwash International, a multi-million dollar operation with centers in 32 countries. "I just asked them to imagine being there. That was the foundation. Look where they are."
Hawaii is headed for its first final four appearance since 1988. Wahine coach Dave Shoji said Burwash has been a part of the winning effort.
"He's a really good motivator," Shoji said. "He's right behind the bench every game and is really good with body language, can pick up on a lot of things. He'll offer suggestions to the players or to me and it's helped with our focus."
Burwash started attending Wahine games about eight years ago at the request of his wife, Lynn. What began as a baby-sitting job for former Hawaii player Heather Brennan turned into pro bono work for Burwash.
"I've been volunteering my service for a number of years but it's become more intense in the last four," he said. "Getting to know the Wahine players is one of the greatest coaching experiences I've ever had."
Burwash has spent hours trying to teach the Wahine players how to think and act like champions.
"I told the team that champions never put their heads down, they never show there is a chink in the armor," said Burwash, a former tennis pro. "We met right before the match with Colorado and I gave them a list of nine things they needed to do. The went out and did every one of them. It was an unbelievable feeling that happened."
LAST week's session had Joselyn Robins, the team's strongest player, snapping a Popsicle stick. Burwash then bundled together sticks representing each player and asked the senior hitter to break the stack.
"This was to show that as team, they can't be broken if they stay together," said Burwash, who has lived in Hawaii for the past 27 years. "It used to be when there was a mistake, they each dug a little foxhole. Now, there's a mistake but they're still a unit. It's everybody's mistake and everyone shares it. Championship teams don't sulk."
"We really appreciate his work, he's such a great communicator," Robins said. "We really appreciate it because it's all volunteer time."
It's amazing how Burwash has found the time. Last March alone, he traveled more than 62,000 miles.
Drafted by the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League, Burwash instead turned to tennis before retiring to set up a chain of tennis centers. His TV-radio series is in its 10th year on CBS Sports; he has written seven books; he speaks at 100 corporate seminars a year and tries to reach 25 schools in Hawaii annually with his motivational talks.
His favorite imagery poem concerns geese flying in a V formation. It speaks of the teamwork a flock has to get to its destination, using the lifting power of the formation for a more efficient flight.
"Do you realize that when the lead goose gets tired, she rotates back to the end," he said. "They honk to encourage each other. It's a lot of teamwork."
A few months back, Burwash was in Cleveland, staying at the Marriott. Even he could not have "seen" that, when the Wahine got to the final four, that would be their hotel.
Cindy Luis is a Star-Bulletin sportswriter.
Her column appears weekly.