He created an opportunity for other students to bowl competitively in his sophomore year when he was instrumental in forming Kamehameha Maui’s first bowling team. Now captain Russell Nagamine is still leading the way in his senior year.

“I started the bowling team mostly because every other school had one, and I was kind of surprised that we never had one,” he said.

Nagamine has been participating in club bowling since the age of 10 with Central Maui Junior Bowlers, and in 2013, he founded the team with Kasie Apo Takayama, who was a senior at the time.

“We got people to sign up, we got the names, [and] we got the coach to join,” he said.

Nagamine knew Coach Rodney Carillo from Central Maui Junior Bowlers, and when he found out that the former Baldwin bowling coach was going to retire, he asked Coach Carillo to come to Kamehameha Maui, which he agreed to do.

Nagamine and Takayama turned in an application for the team, which was accepted by the athletic director Coach Blane Gaison, who was new to Kamehameha Maui at the time, and that was how the bowling team was made official.

Nagamine said he likes leading rather than following when it comes to bowling.

“Being the captain for bowling, you’ve just got to set an example, show up, kind of act as a side coach as well; teach them what the coaches don’t teach,” he said.

As captain and three-year member of the team, Nagamine has seen improvement in his teammates, like in the underclassmen who tried out for the team last year and were cut, but returned this year and have been “bowling some pretty decent scores.”

Nagamine thinks the bowling season for the boys team will go very well.

“I think we’re going to win–the boys [team] definitely,” Nagamine said. “I’m not too sure about the girls since Baldwin seems very stacked this year.”

You can see how the bowlers do yourself at their meet on Saturday, September 12, at the Maui Bowling Center in Wailuku.