Teenage bets, tough love, journaling and a whole lot of mutual respect: The Colapinto brothers are about to reunite as Championship Tour surfers
A childhood dream came true for USA’s Crosby Colapinto when he qualified for the WSL Championship Tour in October. But it all started with a bet and some tough words from his older brother Griffin. Find out the secret to their dual success and what the CT rookie is most looking forward to – aside from a brotherly rematch on the golf green.
Surfing
As teens, pro surfers Griffin and Crosby Colapinto left their fate up to a fidget spinner.
“If I make this, if I flip it, if I throw it in the air and catch it while it’s spinning again, still, then Griffin and I will both make the tour and be the best surfers on this tour,” a 15-year-old Crosby promised in a Griffin-shot home video, a bunk bed with a clump of striped bedsheets on one side and a surfing poster plastered to a blue-hued wall behind them.
He threw the spinner up…
And soon erupted in cheers with the freshly-caught wheel spinning between his fingers.
Seven years later, it was his older brother's turn to cheer. Having made the WSL Championship Tour in 2018, Griffin had his phone camera turned on the TV as he waited for Crosby's scores to come in from the Challenger Series heat in Saquarema, Brazil.
Then the confirmation came through - both brothers would be competing on the tour during the 2024 season. The camera shook uncontrollably, from ceiling to floor and back again, until turning to show a close-up of Griffin yelling in uncontained joy.
"It's pretty wild because it's been such a big dream of all of ours to be here," Crosby Colapinto told Olympics.com.
"I'm most looking forward to just being on tour with Griffin because we've talked about it so much when we were kids. Just to be on tour with him and be on the exact same program and be going to the same events. We'll be together the whole year. We'll probably be together every single day, which is crazy."
So that’s one down for the fidget spinner wishes. And what of the other?
With their passion for surfing, talent, discipline and a unique mental strength routine, the dream of becoming "the best surfers on this tour" could soon be coming true as well.
Crosby Colapinto and Matthew McConaughey say "Griff for Champ"
Five weeks before he qualified for the Championship Tour, Crosby Colapinto stood on the beach in Lower Trestles, California to watch his brother compete in the WSL Finals for the first time.
Griffin, older by three years, had had a breakthrough season, finishing second overall, advancing to the Final Five, and securing a provisional quota for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on top of it.
Crosby accompanied him to several stops on the tour, including Portugal Pro and Open J-Bay, and with the Final Five coming to their home break, he took it up another notch. Sporting a “Griff for Champ” cap, the 22-year-old was at the head of a crowd clad in red "Go Griffin" shirts, all out to support his brother.
"On the beach everyone was in red. It was pretty crazy to see," Crosby recalled. "I had a pass so I saw him before his heat and gave him a hug, but it was so crowded. It was so loud and hectic. It was really cool."
Even Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey threw in his support behind the Colapinto camp by recording a message of wisdom for Griffin ahead of finals day.
While Griffin fell short of the world title, finishing third in Lower Trestles, watching him come so close fired up Crosby who still had two stops remaining on the season's Challenger Series.
"It motivated me a lot seeing how much our town came together and how much support he got and how special it was," Crosby said. "Seeing how people were so supportive really made me go, 'Oh, wow. I want to do that'. Especially seeing Griffin do it just showed me that it is possible because I've grown up surfing with him and being around him and know that I could be doing the same thing if I keep working hard."
The magic stroke of tough brotherly love
The 2023 WSL Finals were not the first time that Griffin Colapinto had served as motivation for his younger brother.
Growing up in San Clemente, they both started surfing young. But while the conditions were the same, Griffin was always a bit ahead thanks to his extra passion for the sport.
"He had the fire more when he was younger. He was really into it himself," Crosby said. "And when I was younger, I did it just because it was part of our family. My dad had the surf camp, Griffin loved surfing, so they’d always drag me to go surf. And I was never really too excited to go surf."
Things changed when Crosby lost in the national championships at age 13. As he stomped off in anger, there were no words of sympathy from his brother, only tough love.
"I lost and I came in and I was so bummed," Crosby recalled. "And my brother's been my coach my whole life so he pulled me aside and was like, 'Look, if you're going to want to make it in surfing, you're going to have to start surfing way more and start taking it way more serious and start working harder on getting better'. And once he said that, that's when it turned for me."
While many siblings would have rebelled against the harsh comments, Crosby said he’s always welcomed feedback from Griffin. And he's glad he did.
"My parents weren't super into pushing me really hard. Griffin was the one who really pushed me and wanted it for me, so I was really lucky to have him," Crosby said.
"I wasn't going to be the younger brother that didn't listen, that had my ego get in front of me. I always knew he was right. And whenever I would listen, it would always work out."
He listened to Griffin's advice after the disappointing nationals as well and barely got out of the water that summer and following winter. Upping his training, Crosby would wake up early before school to go surf for two hours in the dark. Another two-hour session followed after lessons.
Soon, the hard work started paying off. When Crosby returned to the nationals next year, he won the competition.
Colapintos and Co: The crew that journals together, wins together
One habit that Crosby Colapinto has picked up from his brother is regular journaling. They even released a guided journal together to navigate others through the process.
The "Cola Bros" guided journal includes prompts such as “I am …”, “I am grateful for…”, “goals for today” and “goals for the future”. The proceeds go to 'To Write Love on Her Arms,' a non-profit organisation that helps people dealing with depression, addiction and self-injury.
"The journal, I bring it everywhere because it's almost like an outlet," Crosby said. "Whenever I feel like I'm a little bit off or something's on my mind, I write it down and I feel way better after because I'm getting it out of my head. Writing it on paper, just being able to do that, makes me feel a lot lighter and I'm kind of releasing all that anxiousness or all those thoughts that don't really serve me."
With Griffin as the unofficial, but widely accepted leader of their surfing crew, the journaling habit has spread through the ranks.
Cole Houshmand, another surfer who got the ticket for the 2024 Championship Tour, had “qualify for the WCT” written among his "goals for the future" in March 2023.
"A lot of it coming from Griffin because Griffin's almost like the ringleader of our crew," Crosby said. "He's the one who's been doing it for a while and he's telling us the right things to do. And I feel like our whole crew is on that same trajectory of trying to better themselves and journal and just be the best person that they can be."
Like his childhood friend Houshmand, Crosby also had "CT qualification" listed among the goals in his journal. Though, being a Colapinto, he took his goal-setting one step further.
"I actually wrote on my mirror in my bathroom with a mirror pen that I wanted to qualify this year," Crosby said of the target he set ahead of the Challenger Series.
"I still got it sitting there, but it'll probably come off and I’ll put up some new goals."
Crosby Colapinto and the power of the mind
While Griffin enjoyed his best-ever season on the Championship Tour in 2023, he kept his sights firmly set on Crosby’s progress as well.
"It's really cool. I see him, he's been changing a lot lately and becoming a better person and already you can see it just makes him happier," Griffin Colapinto told Olympics.com. "He's way happier in everyday life and then that shows in his contest results.”
Crosby also credited his new mindset, more so than physical strength, as the main reason for his recent progress. He has started working with a life coach and has shifted his focus from results to the lessons he learns about himself in competitions.
"What changed for me was going into the heats and actually having the belief in myself that I could do it," the CT rookie said. "Before last year I was losing so much and it felt like it was like hacking away at my confidence. So I'd go into heats and already be feeling like I was going to lose or picturing myself losing. And then going into this year, I actually found belief from deep down inside. And once I found that, then I was able to start picturing myself doing well and believing in myself that I could make it."
This mindset was especially useful ahead of the Challenger Series finale in Brazil. Since Crosby lost in the first round at the earlier stop in Ericeira, his qualification to the Championship Tour came down to Saquarema.
"After I lost, I had so much pressure on myself," he said. "But when I went to Brazil, I let go of everything and worked my hardest to enjoy being in Brazil and almost letting that pressure to make me stronger."
Colapinto vs. Colapinto: From golf rivalry to man-on-man heats
Starting next season, the Colapinto brothers will be writing the same location in their journals while on the road.
But that’s not the only thing Crosby Colapinto is looking forward to. Sharing a room is mandatory and facing each other in a CT heat is probable.
The brothers can get competitive in just about everything, but their rivalry gets especially fierce in golf, cards and table tennis.
"Crosby, he can golf pretty well. I'm a good golfer too. I'm pretty good. I can play," Griffin mused in an interview with Olympics.com.
A bit more than that, as his younger brother would grudgingly reply.
"You give us anything to compete in, we get competitive. But he's always got this crazy luck on his side somehow. He's always pulling something out of the bag," Crosby said. "I swear, whenever we play games, if he needs something, if he needs to pull a card, he'll pull the right card. For golfing, it comes down to this one shot, he'll clutch up and make the shot. He'll always do crazy stuff like that. But whatever it is that we're competing in, it gets really competitive."
That competitive nature can sometimes even take the brothers into extreme adventures, as was the case when Crosby came with Griffin to Open J-Bay in July.
"In South Africa, they have the biggest bungee jumping in the world. My dad and Griffin and I went and we jumped off a bridge. It was pretty scary though. It was so high. When you walk to the edge, you get down and your feet are tingling like, 'Oh my gosh, I'm going to jump off this bridge right now'," the youngest of the Colapintos said. "I did it because I saw my dad and brother do it before me and they came up and I was like, 'All right, they're good. So I'm good'."
Set to travel to all stops together next year, the friendly brother rivalry could next translate to surfing.
The Colapintos have never had a man-on-man heat together, and only faced each other once before, in a four-man heat at Sunset Beach, Hawaii. So, what does Crosby Colapinto think about the prospect of facing his brother on the CT?
"I hope it happens! But I hope it's not in the earlier round. I hope it's later, like the quarter-finals or semis or finals."
Whatever heats next season brings, it looks like the writing on Crosby Colapinto's bathroom mirror is about to change.