Colorado Top Team: Make CO Best in USA
Coach Leister Bowling, Colorado Top Team
Building Colorado Wrestling to Be the Best
As related to Bill X. Barron
Editor’s Note: Leister Bowling III is a 3-time Colorado state champion (4X placer) who compiled a 154-2 record for Lyons High School. Six years ago, he founded Colorado Top Team where he coaches over 100 novice through elite wrestlers from all over the state. At Dana College in Nebraska, Leister was a 3-time NAIA All-American at 165 lbs. (3rd, 4th, 2nd).
Born and raised in Lyons, CO, my father Leister, Jr. is by far the best coach I have ever had. Dad understood that everyone needs to be coached differently. I needed a more demanding style to push me to my best, while others required a more soft-hearted approach.
Wrestling is the best base for MMA, in that you need to control your opponent on the mat after taking him down. I was always drawn to MMA, so after college I took a fight and began training in mixed martial arts.
But following my first fight, my wife became pregnant, and my priorities shifted. Although I decided not to pursue a fighting career, I still trained with some fighters and helped improve their wrestling technique.
While coaching at the University of Northern Colorado I worked with Shane Carwin, a Western State-CO and UFC national champion; Nate Marquardt, UFC middle and welterweight champion; and Georges St. Pierre, regarded as one of the greatest fighters ever.
Wrestling will always be part of my life; my journey has evolved from a competitor to a coach. While it is more by circumstance that I got into coaching, now I cannot envision doing anything else.
I have been fortunate enough to travel the world coaching wrestling and have met some of my best friends through the sport. It’s been eye-opening how cultured I have become through wrestling. The more people wrestling touches, the better the world will be.
At age four, my son Leister IV wanted to learn wrestling. Leister’s success is less credit to me but more to everyone who has worked with him. My goal as a coach is to help provide kids with the same, or better, opportunities that wrestling provided me.
In 2022, Leister placed 5th in state at 152 as a freshman for Mead High School and earned 8th place and All-American status at both the High School Nationals in Virginia Beach and Fargo (Greco).
It’s perfect to have an event series like RMN right in our backyard. We are fortunate not to travel far to get national competition and exposure in a reputable, high-level promotion.
Like us, RMN is committed to raising the caliber of Colorado wrestling through its national exposure and hosting tournaments that offer multiple styles.
Colorado Top Team is growing fast. Our main coaches are me, Quinten Fuentes (2X CO state champ and OK State wrestler), and Joe Warren (USA’s most recent Greco World Champion).
Our belief is the more we can surround our kids with greatness, the more attainable it can become to them. When they see world team members as well as All-Americans and state champs and placers in their practice, it makes their goals more achievable.
Warren won Greco Worlds in 2006 and the 2007 World Cup. Competing for Bellator, Warren was the first fighter to become world champion in more than one division (featherweight 2010 and bantamweight 2014).
Joe brings energy, passion, and love for the sport – you cannot beat that combination. When he looks you in the eye and tells you that you will be a national champion, you have to believe in yourself because you know he believes in you.
Americans do well in freestyle and Greco because folkstyle builds conditioning and discipline. However, international wrestlers learn how to flow with the action because they drill that way. Our club goal is to travel the world with top-level athletes who want to experience a higher level.
With world-class coaching, we have transitioned to a year-round club. Our doors are open to anyone from any club (coaches included). If you let your ego get in the way when other people help or coach your wrestlers, you are in coaching for the wrong reason.
Wrestlers who are overtrained get injured more frequently. Our training facility (located on my property near Longmont) stresses more innovative training with a sports performance coach who helps our elite athletes to peak at 100 percent mentally and physically.
There is nothing special about any specific technique we teach at Colorado Top Team. However, the work ethic and respect we demand from our athletes, parents, and coaches sets us apart.
We take a lot of pride in this philosophy. Since respect goes both ways, it creates an environment for success and a bond that will last a long time.
I believe one of the best traits a coach can have is honesty. I am brutally honest to my athletes and to myself. When a wrestler or fighter is doing something right, I tell them.
When they need to improve, I tell the athlete, and we work on that. Being blunt and honest is the best thing I think an athlete needs from a coach.
Wrestling inspires kids to do better in life. It teaches character traits such as work ethic, enjoyment, and gratitude, as well as a solid belief in their coaches’ plan and system of techniques. Every one of these qualities will help a wrestler in each aspect of his or her life.
I love Colorado; since I love to hunt and fish, Colorado is hard to beat. Our goal is to help take Colorado to the next level and get the best kids in Colorado training and traveling together.
We have many exciting things planned for the club’s future. We are putting together teams for national and international competitions this spring and summer.
While I can’t sum all my experiences into one match, I know I’ve been beaten by people who, on paper, never should have beaten me. At the same time, I’ve won against people I wasn’t supposed to beat.
The gains any person makes from being involved in wrestling are priceless. But don’t let those go. I’ve never met someone that regrets wrestling, but I’ve met a ton who regret the moment they stopped.
Nothing is guaranteed or given in wrestling or in life. I’ve learned to not take opportunities for granted; take every match and each day seriously.