KidSports magazine Winter 2010

K i d S p o r t sMagazine

HighPoints Lake Houston Edition - January 2011Ages 5 to 14

Alexandra “Fuzzy” Brooks

Clearly an Ace on the Course

K-Park BoundINSIDELonghorn Lovin’RMS’s Bransombuilds character

Wang’s WorldIt’s a Family Affair

ESADive on in to Lake Houston’s up-and-coming swim club

joy! Savor this first full-sized KID-SPORTS edition. After all, it’s a matter of good taste.

Thanks,

Rob L Sprouse Owner, Managing Editor, Senior Writer

by Rob L. Sprouse

Thanks for stopping by again to sample our new maga-zine, HighPoints KID-SPORTS. After your mini

sneak peek version back in August, we felt you would want a bigger, fuller taste. So, here it is. Granted, we had originally promoted the magazine in the sneak peek issue, as one that would come your way in November 2010, we weren’t able to make that date due to family health. Nevertheless, we finally made it and we don’t intend to miss anymore publication targets. To make it up to you we think that we have got a nice spread for you this time around with more pics. on more pages, to boot. Enjoy our story on Fuzzy Brooks the stunningly successful early teens golfer that has caught everyone’s attention in our neck of the woods, our area, or as Chevy Chase’s character Todd said to Cin-dy Morgan’s “Lacey Underall “ in the

‘80’s Golf movie comedy Caddyshack – “our neck of the nape” . Anyway, one day you may say with pride that you knew Fuzzy, when. She literally could be that good.

On Your Mark . . . Also, we make a return visit to our friends with the Eagle Swim-ming Association. This time we will take a closer look at the club, includ-ing its fine junior group head coach John Dissinger. In coming issues we will begin to explore other clubs in the Lake Houston area, and other summer leagues, as well.

Finally, we will look back at the Humble ISD football team from Riverwood Middle School. The pigskin is also tossed over to the local Humble Area Football League (HAFL) and we check in on how their fall season unfolded. The KFL and the YFL will be dis-cussed next time around. All that, and a small look at young martial artists-you know those that practice karate, ju-jitsu, tae kwan do, judo, etc.; those who get their kicks in our area. It’s all here and now. En-

Get Set for Your First Full Look

On Your Mark . . .

www.highpointsmagazine.com 3

“It’s all here, and now.

Enjoy! Savor this first

full-sized KIDSPORTS

edition.”- Rob L Sprouse

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K i d S p o r t s


Table of Contents

K i d S p o r t sPublisher

HighPoints© MagazineManaging Co-Editors

Mila Sprouse Rob L SprouseSenior Writer Rob L SprousePhotography Mila Sprouse Tracey Ivy

Graphic Design/LayoutGuy AndersonMichaels’ Media

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HighPoints© KIDSPORTS Magazine ©2010, all rights reserved. All editorial, stories, photography and advertising copy belongs solely to HighPoints© KIDSPORTS Magazine. Production in whole or part without express written permission is strictly prohibited.

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6 Longhorn Lovin’ RMS’s Dale Bransom

10 Wang’s World Martial Arts Family Affair

12 On the Cover Alexandra “Fuzzy” Brooks

15 Superheroes Texas Heatwave 4U Soccer

20 ESA Splash Down

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by Jesse Livingston

It may sound like a cliché but just 13 years ago, Dale Bransom never would have imagined just how much of an impact he would

end up having on people’s lives. As the Athletic Coordinator at Riverwood Middle School, Bransom to-day oversees over 400 boys and girls participating in sports, along with being the Head Coach of the Longhorns foot-ball team. “At first, it was hard because I didn’t know how to motivate or lead

people,” says Bransom. “I had an idea of how to lead by example but I wasn’t very good at it and over the course of time I think I’ve become pretty good at it.”

Serving up Smiles: Dale Bransom serves as athletic director of Riverwood Middle School athletics, including acting in his role of head football coach. It’s Coach Bransom’s smile and words that warm the days of his student-athletes.

Longhorn Lovin’Bransom drives home character to students, provides perfect model

Bransom originally coached middle school football in the inner city for seven years before interviewing for a freshman high school baseball coach-ing position in Humble. Instead of walk-ing into his dream of coaching high school baseball, he was recommended to interview for the Athletic Coordinator position at Riverwood. Despite his inexperience, he was entrusted to take the reins of an entire sports program and is now the longest tenured Athletic Coordinator in school history. Respected and highly regarded by his peers, he was named “Humble

Independent School District Secondary Teacher of the Year” in 2009. “It was a most humbling experi-ence for me,” says Bransom. “It’s be-cause of what we do as a school, ev-erybody being involved from the nine coaches on my staff, to the administra-

Green Zone: One of the sure tacklers on the tough Riverwood Middle School eighth-grade B-team squad, Josh Green (#9), prepares to tackle the oncoming Creekwood Colt ball carrier in a November game at Humble ISD’s Turner Stadium. Photo by Mila Sprouse.

tion and teachers at the school. That’s the reason why I won (the award) it’s because there is so much of a commu-nity of support here at the school.” Bransom also sees fit to use the platform that he’s been given as an op-portunity to instill more than just ath-letics into children’s lives. “To be able to coach in this community and be a part of helping these parents raise their kids is a spe-cial thing,” he says. “This is a fun time right now in these kids’ lives and it’s a good time to learn character, to have fellowship, sportsmanship and to be productive members of society.” Every year, Bransom leads the kids in a toy drive for the Humble Area Assistance Ministries (HAAM) that not only provides toys to the children at HAAM but also gifts to prisoners at the jail in Dayton, TX. “HAAM counts on us and be-cause of where I am in this community, I’m able to use our kids and our par-ents to give back and that’s what we try to teach our kids,” says Bransom. “The football side is fun but I want (the kids) to be able to understand that they’re blessed and that they should try and help their fellow man.” About twice a month, approxi-6 www.highpointsmagazine.com

Cheer up: Lifting higher the spirits of the crowd on hand, are the Riverwood Middle School cheerleaders, resplendent in Black and Burnt Orange. They are usually screaming, “Go Longhorns!”

mately 150 of the kids also get together for the student-led Fellowship of Chris-tian Athletes (FCA), a club that meets at the school and partakes in games followed by a devotional out of the Bi-ble, while coaches and staff are there to supervise, but not instruct. Other days during this past sea-son, Bransom and his staff took the kids to University of Houston football games during FCA day at the stadium.

“It’s because of what we do as a school, every-body being in-volved from the nine coaches on my staff, to the administration and teachers at

the school.”- Dale

Bransom

On their own football field this season, the Longhorns had one of their best seasons ever. The eighth grade teams and the seventh grade squads both enjoyed championship caliber performances. They competed in a district with nearby Creekwood, King-wood, Sterling, Atascocita, Humble and Wood Creek middle schools. Riv-erwood, a feeder school into Kingwood High School and optional feeder into Kingwood Park, runs the same option offense and 3-4 defense that is used by Kingwood High. That is done to better prepare the kids for their ascent onto the high school level. “We try to become proficient

with their defensive and offensive schemes so that when my guys go up there as ninth graders, they’re ready to go,” says Bransom. On and off the field, Bransom and his staff believe in treating the kids as if the youngsters were their own. “How we treat them, goes a long way toward how they’re going to act,” he says. “They know that when they come out here, we’re going to treat them fairly and that they’re go-ing to have a good time. Overall, we want this to be a great experience for them.” After each practice and game this past season, the Longhorns broke out in their traditional cheer. It went something like this: “Who are we?” yelled, Bransom. “Longhorns sir!” the kids screamed back. “Love you guys!” Bransom re-plied. “We love you too, coach!” they yelled back. “I always say, ‘Love you guys’” he says. “Who knows? That might be the only time that they hear that all day.” If so, then mission accomplished and lives impacted.

“We tell our kids all of the time, ‘Character is what you do when no-body’s watching’, says Bransom. “That’s our goal because giving them the prop-er guidance makes them better people. That’s what we try to teach our kids.” Mission accomplished for Bran-som and his perfectly matched kids. It’s a tried but true cliché of real accom-plishment and needs no explanation.

“I always say, ‘Love you guys’” he says. “Who knows? That might be the only

time that they hear that all day.”


ing martial arts routines, complete with kicks, punches, blocks and strikes. Most outsiders would immediately assume martial arts to be only violent in nature but Master Wang says, “Technique can be learned as a self defense only as the last resort”. It takes more skills than that to be successful. “Martial Arts is not only for physical fitness but also for discipline, concentration, focus, learning to respect others and yourself and building up the proper attitude,” he adds.

At 6:25, Wang directs every-one to have a seat beside three of his students. He then proceeds to call out numbers, beginning at “one”, with the students then performing a corre-sponding move. These forms, or rou-tines, are described by Wang as a set of movements that students practice as a drill. With each set Wang increased the speed of their movement, testing how well they performed each time. Next up were the orange and yellow belts. These routines were a little less com-plicated than the previous group that consisted of a green and purple belt quality of movement difficulty. This is all part of the belt system which is put in place grading skill from lighter colors to darker colors, ranging from white to black, lowest rank to the highest. Wang, it comes as no surprise, is a black belt and has been teaching Kung Fu since his arrival here in the United States. “I was born and raised in

in Wang’s WorldFamily Time

10 www.highpointsmagazine.com

by Ashriel Dunham

It’s six o’clock on any given Wednes-day night in Wang’s Martial Arts Studio in Humble. Wang’s family class is just about to begin and the

students are stretching in the middle of the floor in perfectly horizontal lines. When you walk in, there is a certain calmness that comes over you. It could be the sound of falling water coming from the goldfish tank, which is the only thing you hear when you step through the door, or maybe all the greenery from the bamboo to other plants that are in their own little designated area around the studio. You get the feeling that they fulfill a purpose just as much as the students do.

“Martial Arts is not only for physical fitness but also for discipline, concentration, fo-

cus, learning to respect others and yourself and building up

the proper attitude.”- Master Wang

It’s 6:15 pm. now and stretching has ended. Master Wang steps in front of his class to greet them with a bow prompting them to respond. This class is very diverse in age and ranges from children to parents, hence the name “family class”, the youngest sitting right at 5-years-old. And if parents opt out of participating, they can always have a seat in the viewing room off to the side. This room is equipped with two very large, square viewing windows. If you ever come into the studio, be sure to notice the sign that reads “Silence” in the middle of the two glass portals. The class is cohesively practic-

by Ashriel Dunham

Cowboys, Jaguars, Ravens, Saints, Texans, Titans, and Panthers; all common names in a football lover’s household,

but we’re not talking about NFL teams here. Instead, KIDSPORTS is talking about teams in the Humble Area Foot-ball League (HAFL). These players are a little too young to play for those NFL teams, seeing as though they range from ages 4-12. Instead of Monday Night Football, you could, and can, catch these players on home videos taken by parents after their Saturday games each season. In the freshman division this past season, the Humble Texans made their mark with a winning season, com-pared to the NFL Houston Texans’ sub-par year. That put them at the head of the youngest bracket, ages four to six. There are sophomore, junior, and se-nior brackets, as well. Those freshman teams don’t have to worry about the possibility of not playing in a game like the ‘Big’ NFL Texans, where a player can be second or third string and not see much playing time for the whole season. Head coaches in the freshman division play their entire team which usually averages around twelve players per squad. By the way, those Humble Tex-ans didn’t need a multi-million dollar stadium or even “gazillion” dollar con-tracts to show up and show off their abilities. They did just fine this past

season at their home field located in Humble at Lindsey Lyons Park. As for compensation of their playing services, some ice cream after the games did the trick. There was no Tony Romo on the roster of the Cowboys, but that didn’t stop them from leading the sophomore division of the HAFL. These Cowboys were able to bring it home after a 6-1 season start put them in control of their division. Meanwhile, the lone loss came in a non-divisional game. Too bad for Dallas Cowboy fans that they can’t say the same thing after their team’s strug-gles derailed their 2010-2011 NFL sea-son.

By the way, those Humble Texans didn’t need a multi-

million dollar stadium or even “gazillion” dollar contracts to show up and show off their

abilities.

The Texans junior division club copied the Cowboys sophomores and landed in the top spot of their age grouping. As for the senior division, the Patriots held down the top spot for 2010. These pre-teen players might just be on their way to the NFL ver-sions of the teams whose names they proudly wore this past season. Middle school, high school and College could be just pit stops along the way, but first it just might have started in the HAFL.

Korea,” Wang said. He started training when he was in junior high school, then continued on after high school, as well. “I came to the US in 1968, then later I was an assistant to a Grand Master named Chang, then I started my own studio in 1983,” Wang stated. Ten minutes later at 6:40, the group with smaller kids joins Wang’s

group and watches as the teacher of the smaller martial arts class demon-strates a more advanced routine, and then is followed by applause from his on-lookers. From the direction given by Wang, several students sprint from the practice floor to return with vari-ous weapons, all wooden. They have swords and long sticks that they pro-ceed to use in routines similar to the ones before.

Wang’s cont;

KID’S CLUB FOOTBALL REPORTN F L N a m e s a k e s R u l e H A F L


At 6:45 p.m., the time comes for a two-minute break, but not for water. Instead, it’s time to move into a different section of the class. Most of the students are now equipped with soft helmets as well as hand and feet pads. At that time they ready to get more physical and that’s why the pads

were rendered necessary. Using moves from the previous routines they prac-tice them on each other. They smile as they came up two at a time and bow towards Wang, and then begin bowing toward each other. You can tell this is not your average street fight but very tactical in nature as they use those practiced moves on each opponent. Right before 7 p.m. hits, the one-on-one combat has ended and all of the students are lined up perfectly and sitting on their knees. They each close their eyes and are completely still for about two minutes; class is over. Wang is hardly done. After viewing his class, there are about four sets of parents and children waiting to talk to him about enrollment into one of those classes. Wang doesn’t hesitate to get them paperwork because he knows that Martial Arts can be of great value. Wang says, “The main purpose is keep-ing young people on the right track and in a positive direction.” When the class is over for the day, then Wang’s martial arts’-driven lessons on life soon begin to show up like clockwork. You can set your watch to it.

When you see the focus, there’s no doubt. When you feel the energy, then you really know. And when you

hear the emotion, then it becomes crys-tal clear, Alexandra “Lexi” “Fuzzy” Brooks is going to be a star. There is no other outcome on the horizon. Un-less, unkind luck visits the sensational 13-year-old and finds its way onto her path, then the young golfing, dare we say it, prodigy, is only a matter of a few years away from her appointed rounds. They should be filled with greatness. There is nothing that you nor I, nor anyone can do about it. Of course, life sometimes has other ideas. How-ever, “LIFE” better start pumping some serious iron. It’s going to take a very strong force of nature or circumstance to keep the Kingwood Middle School eighth grader from becoming not what she is now, an area big name, but rather, a household name, known from Anaheim to Zephyrhills, from the U.S. to Sweden.Or it could take an ill advised reaction to encountering something that she hasn’t before- untimely defeat.“That is how you are going to tell if Lexi is someone who has what it takes to get to the top of the golfing profession,” says the man who should know her game best, teaching Pro Bob Hasbrouck, her personal coach. The Kingwood based PGA( Professional Golf Association) instructor is fast becoming Brooks’ biggest non-family fan. The feeling is mutual. “Coach Hasbrouck is such a good coach for me because he knows what I am dealing with both on and off the course. His daughter was a very good junior golfer and he has been involved with aspiring young golfers before,” Fuzzy Brooks says. The golfer that Fuzzy is alluding to is Hasbrouck’s daughter Leisl (pro-nounced lee-sool) who was a back to back Texas State Junior Champion female golfer in the early part of the last decade. On the other hand, the young girl who took up the sport after her dad, Bob Brooks decided to punctuate a father-daughter outing day back on April 6, 2006-yes Lexi knows the exact day-with a session on the driving range, may be trending past Liesl. Remember, that entails trending past someone who posted a record setting-score and margin of victory at the State Jrs.- level. “She is a little more advanced from where my daughter was at that age especially with the natural talent portion of it because my daughter had to work as hard as she possibly could, just to be as good as she was as a high level golfer,” Hasbrouck says. Like her dad, Bob, Leisl spends her days now helping others become bet-

(DYK)That Fuzzy Brooks’ nickname comes from the for-mer family dog? When she was a little girl she used to lay down sometimes right next to that pet named “Fuzzy”. Brooks sister Tori called Alexandra and the dog , the “two Fuzzies”. She was not named after the eighties- nineties era pro golfer Irwin “Fuzzy” Zoeller, nor 1930’s movie cowboy sidekick Al “Fuzzy” St. John.

That Fuzzy Brooks’ favorite color is pink, and that she likes current Ladies Pro Golfing Association player Paula Creamer who likes to wear pink? Brooks also looks up to LPGA’ers Natalie Gulbis and Michelle Wie, the latter a former child golfing prodigy.

That Fuzzy Brooks’ coach Bob Hasbrouck says that Fuzzy is good enough right now to be a supporting player-fourth or fifth best golfer- on a small division one, or mid-major college golf team? He believes that she will dominate the high school ranks and will be swarmed by colleges looking for her services.

That Fuzzy Brooks, just like any other teen, likes to hang out with her friends here locally, and that she also likes to meet other people as well, people like local television anchor/reporter Keith Caulkins of KRIV-26 who did a feature on the youngster?

The Future is HereKingwood’s Brooks is Young,

Natural, Right on Course

Namely an address: At the Kingwood Country Club driving range, Fuzzy Brooks addresses and eyes the dimpled sphere and squares the club upon it, the object of her affection, the ball. Yes!, This Kingwood 13-year-old loves the game of golf.


ter golfers. Following a University of Tulsa college career and a one tourney exhi-bition appearance on the pro tour where she hobnobbed with Hall of Famer Julie Inkster, and met the legendary Lorena Ochoa; Leisl now holds down a club pro’s position at a Tulsa area course. “This story’s not about Leisl though, is it?,” Coach Hasbrouck rhetorically asks.He knows that Fuzzy is the coming attraction that may be on the verge of arriv-ing, right now. Hasbrouck knows too, that if the youngster has her first encounter with losing on more than just the rarest of occasions, then her future greatness will only come about with a positive, determined reaction to that losing. He under-stands that the hatred of losing when you think that you should have won, and should always win or at least compete at the top, is what separates the good athlete from the great athlete. He feels Fuzzy knows, or at least will know that as well. “This is an exceptionally smart kid who has very few equals on the golf course or in the classroom, in our community,” Hasbrouck says. The girl that her dad calls “Fuzz” radiates that exceptional glow when she talks about her young life and her golf game, showing an ability as well to be introspective with a deliberate but very measured way of answering the questions of inquiring minds-this magazine. It’s a trait that truly shows her to be mature beyond her years. However, she does have one, if you could call it that, minor “flaw”. “I’m an impatient person and I want to be successful right away at any-thing that I do, but especially golf, a game that I had trouble catching onto at first, and a game that calls for me to go against my impatient personality,” she says. Fuzzy adds that, “I have enough natu-ral ability to overcome my game’s flaws, but since I’m still learning I don’t have enough talent to overcome inexperi-ence, and that is the challenge that the game is presenting to me. I am though, learning patience and what it takes to win,” Brooks says. How much of a challenge is it re-ally though? After all, try shooting an 87 when you’re 11 years old and hit-ting from both the men’s and women’s tee boxes on Blackhorse in Houston, a course most grown men can’t break a 90 on. Not enough? OK, try entering tourneys against kids that are generally two to three (or more) years older than you; kids that in some cases have been playing a long time. Brooks beats them regulary. By the way, now she sometimes takes her game into the realm of scor-ing in the 70s. Fuzzy even has designs of taking her four-handicap( that’s right she is 13-years-old and is a four-handicap!) down to where she needs no handicap at all-the even level, and a place where she will then become a consistently under par scoring golfer. At that point, she will begin to make her move toward entering and winning the U.S. Amateur Women’s Open. However, she says that’s a few years away. For the present, she will continue taking lessons from Bob Hasbrouck, entering some of the tourneys on the Texas Junior Golf Association, South Texas

(DYK)That Fuzzy Brooks’ nickname comes from the for-mer family dog? When she was a little girl she used to lay down sometimes right next to that pet named “Fuzzy”. Brooks sister Tori called Alexandra and the dog , the “two Fuzzies”. She was not named after the eighties- nineties era pro golfer Irwin “Fuzzy” Zoeller, nor 1930’s movie cowboy sidekick Al “Fuzzy” St. John.

That Fuzzy Brooks’ favorite color is pink, and that she likes current Ladies Pro Golfing Association player Paula Creamer who likes to wear pink? Brooks also looks up to LPGA’ers Natalie Gulbis and Michelle Wie, the latter a former child golfing prodigy.

That Fuzzy Brooks’ coach Bob Hasbrouck says that Fuzzy is good enough right now to be a supporting player-fourth or fifth best golfer- on a small division one, or mid-major college golf team? He believes that she will dominate the high school ranks and will be swarmed by colleges looking for her services.

That Fuzzy Brooks, just like any other teen, likes to hang out with her friends here locally, and that she also likes to meet other people as well, people like local television anchor/reporter Keith Caulkins of KRIV-26 who did a feature on the youngster?

Poof is in the putting: Wearing her favorite hairdo, “the poof”, Fuzzy works on a crucial aspect of her short game - putting - what she hopes will keep her from scor-ing slumps or stagnation on days where her long game is having an off day.

See Fuzzy, Pg. 16

clear it for an open teammate and re-sulting score. Everyone likes to score, but making new pals beats scoring any-time. Making new friends at an early age seemed to be what motivated most of the kids to show up at practice and games. “I have three sisters in my fam-ily, and now I have lots of brothers,” said Kai Bonner, who kicks the ball like Batman knocks out crime. Texas Heatwave Spring soc-cer registration is underway, with sea-son play beginning Feb. 2011, running through April. Interested in your child learning the fun game of soccer? Yes? Contact Texas Heatwave Soccer Club via e-mail at [email protected], or call the main office at 281-359-7280.


Strapping on shin guards and slid-ing on socks is truly the hardest part of preparing for game time

when it comes to a four-year-old’s first competitive athletic experience. Practice is a joy. Games are complete with giggles and smiles, out-of-bounds ball chasing, sidelines packed with screaming parents and extended family, and maybe a teammate deciding to make a grass angel lying on his back while looking up at the sky, rather than worrying about the ball and whose goal is whom’s. Yes, a few tears were also shed. Pout or no pout, by season’s end these toddlers became men of steel. Well, at least they fell in love with the

game. You gotta love something about the game, ’cause at this age, girls are simply yucky! Seven Superheroes overcame the odds and made learning soccer fun. Texas Heatwave Soccer Club is where lifelong friends are forged and fun is had by all. After completing their first full season of playing soccer, one group of guys hope to grow together as a team, each playing his own role as a self-proclaimed, soccer superhero donned in blue and white, saving the world by playing soccer - minus the cape. They call themselves the Superheroes. With iconic role models like Iron Man, Spiderman, Torch, Flash,

Batman, these tight-knit toddlers as-sumed the roles of mild-mannered soc-cer players trying to figure out the ba-sics of the world’s most popular game. Paired with coach Elaine “Elly” Soto, a player herself who lives and breathes soccer, the boys in blue and white stuck together like glue and hope to stay as a unit for as long as possible. “My reason for liking to coach soccer is simply because I love soc-cer myself. Watching my son learn and love to play it, too, only makes me feel great, Soto said. “I want to continue coaching because I love making these little ones feel great and teaching them that the harder they try and practice, they can become great.” Soto’s four-year-old son Ethan Narvaez seemed to have had a head start in developing his soccer skills, thanks to mom. Ethan, known by team-mates as Spiderman, could weave him-self in and out of defenders for easy scores and welcomed passes to team-mates. “I love to score goals!” Ethan said. Friday afternoon practices were many times better than the games themselves, as coach Soto shined in teaching her players how to have fun first, which kept them focused and learning each week. “She just had these guys in the palm of her hand. They would do any-thing she asked them to do,” stated parent Guy Anderson, whose son Ju-lian Anderson played his first orga-nized sports with Texas Heatwave Club. “This was the most fun I’ve ever had as a parent, watching these guys bond while playing and learning together,” he added. Julian went from worrying about being mean to his opponents by taking the ball from others while they were playing with it, to a fierce defender like his hero Iron Man. Ultimately, Julian would steal the ball from anyone and

Superheroes Amongst Us

Saving the World by

Playing Soccer

by Michael Kerr

First Goal: Scoring his first goal ever is Ju-lian Anderson, as coach Elly Soto and son Ethan watch.

Kaboom! Kick: Kai Bonner, aka Batman, dribbles toward the goal as fellow super-heroes Julian, Ethan and River watch from the sideline.

High Five: Scoring one of his five goals in the game is Ethan Navaraez, aka Spider-man.

PGA, and HGA(Houston Golf Associa-tion) tours/events circuit, with most of that tournament play taking place next summer; and entering local golf shoot-outs. With the latter, she will more than likely continue to hit the top ten finish-ing spots or the top spot period, around ninety percent of the time. That’s what her current results show. Kingwood Country Club will probably continue en-graving her name as it has for the past four years on its Junior Girls’ division’s Club tourney trophy… as the winner,

year after year. Brooks will not have many area challengers either. “I know there are a lot of good golfers out there my age like Madison Kidd, Brooke McDougald, Kather-ine Patrick, and Greta Bruner,” she

No failure to launch: Fuzzy pre-pares to uncork another 200-plus yard shot. When Brooks was 10, just three short three years ago, she routinely sent the ball 160-170 yards down the fairway. The extra distance on her drives has cut strokes off her game.

In the pink: Wearing her trademark col-or, Fuzzy Brooks is “in the pink” when she is on a golf course. With tremendous results, including winning or finishing in the Top 10, 90 percent of the time, Brooks is fast be-coming a legend among both the younger and older golfing set. Here she is preparing to “rip” the ball.

says. Fuzzy still continues to beat them regularly, with the exception of McDou-gald at last year’s match play tourney. With regard to The Woodlands sector youngster, Hasbrouck says the Mont-gomery County player may be Brooks’ only equal in the Houston area’s neck of the woods. So, it may be that sooner or later she will start finding her most strenuous competition outside our ex-panses, maybe outside the Southern region of Texas. Then next might be coming challenges from the state, the Southwest U.S. region and so on. First, there will come scholastic challenges in high school at Kingwood Park where there is the good possibility that Head Coach Tony Pounds will produce his first State round bound golfer- Fuzzy Brooks. She says that she met him briefly, but doesn’t know him beyond that moment. Brooks will also bring her out-standing academic talent to K-Park. “I want to be a pro golfer and I also want to get into the medical field in derma-tology because I want to help people feel good about themselves, and their skin condition has a lot to do with how they feel,” she says. Meantime, she will continue to enjoy Genetics her favorite subject in science, and her newest love, History. Brooks says that her Kingwood Middle School eighth grade teacher, a lady that she calls Ms. Woelful (Wool ful ), has made the subject come alive for her. However, Fuzzy also says that her life is not just about Golf and school. While she is looking toward colleges and universities like Stanford, Texas, or her new favorite Texas Christian- “I like the campus because it fits my personality, their graduates have a 93 percent medical school ac-ceptance rate, and they have a really good Golf program”- she also continues to live the life of your average young teen, discounting her golf prowess of course. The trademark, naturally oc-curring, small “poof” of uprising, tufted dark brown hair--“ I don’t use a ‘bump-it’ poof maker.”-- sits on top of the head

of someone who likes scarier than scary movies and who dabbles with her own kitchen recipes. “I make a lot of sweets because those are my favorites. I have a sweet tooth make no mistake about that. I create my own recipes like my Coconut Domino Cookies made with white and dark chocolate chips or my spice cookies that contain Cinnamon or Cayenne,” Brooks says. While Paranormal Activity and Paranormal Activity Two are her kind of entertaining movies-“I like the creepy endings.”- and provide her with a break from the very demanding, regimented, non-exotic game of Golf, she also en-joys the discipline needed for the sport that she has only been playing for five years. The hectic hard edge of hor-ror flicks not withstanding, Brooks also likes the happier side of life. “I like pop songs to be on my i-pod or player, songs

Fuzzy, From Pg. 14


successful days,” Hasbrouck says. John Ankenbrand was her first coach during that first year. He vid-eotaped Brooks during the first few les-sons and discovered that she was natu-rally doing things with her swing that others had to learn through repeated lessons. Her current teacher, Coach

Hasbrouck sings the glories of how quickly she can pick up instructions that help her tweak her game. And yet it is ironic that the simple instructions of her dad Bob Brooks-“He told me to just hit the yellow ball.”- the first time she went out on any golf course, have led to a passion with a game that Lexi “Fuzzy” Brooks calls difficult and com-plex enough to challenge and motivate her every day. Her dad, a Naval Academy grad, and a federal nvestigator for the Labor Division, and her mom Gerri, an out-standing certified public accountant, along with her older sister Tori a vale-

Fuzzy’s Family: Sans her sister Tori, Fuzzy lines up with her mom Gerri (left), and dad Bob. With her family’s solid backing-including Tori’s-it just may be inevitable that one day Ms. Lexi Brooks may be a world class golfing star.

like Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars. Top-40 stuff that’s what I listen to, happy upbeat songs,” she says. Meanwhile, what you won’t find her doing is playing video games. She finds them boring. Golf? That’s another story. “I get the biggest thrill, the greatest feeling out of hitting a really good shot. It’s awesome!,” she says. Those shots are eye-opening to say the least. Coupled with her 5’6” height/ length creating what Coach Hasbrouck calls her good fortune, be-cause he says that not getting too tall will keep her at the needed swing arc angle; and an outstanding muscle-mass ratio for her wiry size, Brooks can generate Iron and Woods’ distances that people much heavier than her may not be able to provide. “I also use the training that my coach has given me, as I use my core (muscles and leverage-providing aspects of the body) to gen-erate power for long distance hitting. How long? Consider that when Fuzzy was just ten years old, she could hit the ball at least 160-170 yards down the fairway, and that was then. Today, though, the longball is becoming less and less her focus. She says that her short, chipping game is probably the strongest part of her over-all game. Hasbrouck knows why. “I told her to concentrate and focus on working on her short game be-cause the better she gets on the scor-ing side the closer she will come to an effect I call the ‘wall’ the stopping point scorewise if an adept golfer doesn’t work on the important little big things of their game. In order to get over that obstacle she must be able to work on the parts of the game that allow a player to overcome off days or average days with their driving and iron play. Working on putting and bunker play will make her better on the scoresheet, and will make her more versatile. It worked for years with Tiger Woods, and recently he has been getting away from that as his focus seems to be on accurate driving, something he wasn’t concerned too much with in his past

dictorian-quality soon to be graduating student from Kingwood Park High, are there every day to support her and also to keep her grounded and focused on what she wants. However, there is one thing that they nor any of us will be able to do, guarantee the future for Al-exandra “Lexi” “Fuzzy” Brooks. That will

be left up to fate and her own steely re-solve. It will be at that point that if what Bob Hasbrouck is saying about her today is true, that she’s as focused as anyone that he has taught and that she will be driven to do what she says about herself, that then Fuzzy will clear up what is now the biggest question. Can the inevitable really not happen, or is it just a matter of time before it does? Then again, she may have the final an-swer now. “I hate losing, I will do anything that I need to do to win.”


When KIDSPORTS last left you the stars of the Eagle Swimming Association were getting their due, and with

good reason, but now it’s time for not only the major players in the Club to get more recognition but also the man who is helping the Junior side-the younger side- of the program to get theirs. Af-ter all, there may not be a faster rising swimming club in the country than the ESA. The head coach of the entire group, Bill Bailey was mentioned last issue as was Junior age group coach John Dissinger, but for the latter it was only in passing. Now, it’s time for the man who not only oversees the younger ends of the Eagle club, and helpfully guides the summer league pro-gram at Summerwood (the Sting-rays) from April to June each year, while also manning the top coaching spot with the up and coming Summer Creek High Swimming Bulldogs, to get his share of accolades for the develop-ment of the ESA. John Dissinger does all of that coaching because he has a pas-sion for Swimming and immerses him-self in the sport year round. He’s had a feeling for aquatics since he was five years old and his path to immersion re-ally opened up when as a high school swimmer in Lakeland, a larger-but not big city-town in central Florida, he produced all state caliber honors. The Lakeland High Dreadnaughts (meaning an invulnerable, powerful battleship) not only had a sensational swimming team which today is still going strong, but they had a swimmer in Dissinger who was scholarship worthy. Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Ky. welcomed him to Red and White Hilltopper country, with open arms. His distinguished Head Coach Bill Powell

thought so much of Dissinger that he named him a team captain in John’s se-nior year there. The man, Powell, who is sec-ond all-time on the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) dual meet team victory list for head coaches, also thought so much of Dissinger that he hired him to help coach a country club swim squad in Kentucky. That came shortly after Dissinger graduated from

college, a time when any graduate is reaffirming their career goals, or after a second look, chang-ing their career path. When Dissinger heard from Coach Powell, a man that he fervently admired and does to this day, that while it might not make him a rich man monetarily, coaching swim-mers would provide rich, lasting rela-tionships; his career field was set. Af-ter all would a coach who today is an assistant with the Hilltoppers, and who has put in 35 years of hard work into a brilliant career, steer his pupil wrong? When Dissinger soon thereafter heard from another coach in his life, the first steps to that path were laid firm-ly down. That coach, his High School Swimming boss Mike Yearwood, had already left scholastic swimming and moved to the club side, running the program in Kingwood that needs no introduction, the National power Blue Tide Aquatics. From Florida to Texas,

Yearwood came, and from those states to anywhere else in the U.S. the ”tide” came with an enormous reputation, producing most of the swimmers that helped Kingwood High become a state power, and a nationally recognized scholastic program. It was a perfect fit for someone starting out, and it pro-vided seven years of valuable assistant coaching experience. Yearwood him-self left two years before Dissinger and headed with his golden lessons back to Florida. After a stint in Virginia, Year-wood is now coaching in Dallas. Mean-while, in ‘04 Dissinger decided to get fully immersed in scholastic swimming. While he was able to do that, little did Dissinger know that his club and sum-mer league days would be revived shortly after. “I took a year off to get my teaching papers, and yes I had a

Master’s Degree, but I needed the teaching certificate to educate in

Texas,” Dissinger says. He had a bit of luck come his way when Morehead Junior High in Con-roe needed someone to coach Basketball, Track, and Foot-

ball. One year later, Atascocita High opened and the swim team

needed an assistant coach to help out head man David Pink. Enter

Dissinger and enter the ESA when Pink held tryouts for the first Eagle swim team and only found two to three really competitive swimmers. “We knew that we were going to have to get a club program going in Atascocita because when you’ve got 40,000 people on this side and you are only seeing a very few that could swim competitively, then development was going to be a problem without a club,” Dissinger says. Dissinger knew that while there were some longtime summer league programs such as Summerwood’s Stingrays, and Fall Creek’s Flying Fish in place, that without a club to hewn the best of those league teams, the high school would not be able to get the job done competitively, or as he says the high school-club-summer league expe-rience-building and feeding program, “the triangle”, would not be intact to work. Pink and Dissinger then estab-

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the 6-year-old category and Lexi Green tied for highpoint finisher in the 7-year-old bracket, with Morgan Wheeler. In addition, in the older groups, Court-ney Bocock, and Jordan Wheeler, along with Rachel McKenzie in their races also took Gold while Brianna Nolen, and Stephanie Fose landed spots in some of the meet’s finals. Eric Morejon made his older brother David proud with a multi-finals performance.Speaking of David, the 12-year-old won all nine of his races at the Gulf Coast meet. He turns 13 at the end of Janu-ary and in the State level’s upcoming competitions in April, the elder Morejon will take his younger age group record setting ability to that age group’s brack-et. At the Gulf meet, David established top ten U.S. times in several of his races. When Matt Kraemer is added into David Morejon, Nick Rudy, and Jonathan Del Real’s relay quartet, then more records will fall before More-jon turns the age calendar.

Whether, butterfly, backstroke, freestyle, breaststroke or med-ley ( a mix of all those styles), it seems the

ESA and its coaches, in-cluding John Dissinger, are ready to continue sprouting their watery

wings.

“We are aiming for a top ten team finish at the State club meet. We had two 11th place finishes last year, but to put us on the map, we need that top ten ending,” Dissinger says. Those are words spoken by a man who along with Atascocita High Head Coach David Pink has started a tradition that has yet to fully soar. When it does, you better look quickly, because the fast rising Eagle Swimming Association, is not going to be easy to catch.

Pooling their resources: This current crop of Eagle Swimming Association competitors is the key to top ten success at the 2011 State Meet for Club swimmers this spring.

ESA cont;


lished the club, set the wheels in mo-tion and Bill Bailey came into help the outmanned pair. “We knew that we were not go-ing to be able to handle it all by our-selves,” Dissinger says. Bailey was brought in by Pink because the AHS head coach had com-peted against and with Sugarland area club swimmers coached by Bailey when Pink was at Elkins High in that Fort

Bend County town. One of those ath-letes at Elkins was the sensational Col-leen Gordon who not only was the 5A Swimmer of the year during part of the late nineties, but was also a national club swimming finalist. With that kind of coaching brain-power and know-how, it wasn’t long before ESA blossomed from around 100 swimmers to the current day 280 total. “For some reason, Atascocita swimmers were not going to go to Kingwood and swim club over there. So, we brought the club to them,” the coach says. Kingwood swimmers have most-ly remained provincial too, with only a few coming to the Eagle Swimming As-

sociation. Among those from KW that have represented the ESA, is Joseph Stanton who by now has become known for a tragic skateboarding acci-dent. Stanton should also be known as a multi-time state champion 4A swim-mer at Kingwood Park High. Dissinger knows too, that the recent national records set by ESA re-layers were coming from swimmers strictly developed in Atascocita pro-grams. “People may want to believe that our record setters’ success comes

from Kingwood summer league swim-mers, but they are wrong,” he says. Once Dissinger left Atascocita High to become the Summer Creek High Head Coach, he also left behind coach-ing older swimmers at the club level, and moved into that Junior, younger age groups club side. Of course, he also continues to coach summer leagu-ers with the Stingrays, competing in the Northwest Aquatics League(NWAL) from April to June. With ESA, he’s also coaching some very talented kids such as his winners and finalists in the under-8 years old brackets of the recent Gulf Coast Championships. Alexis New-man took home high points honors in

KidSports magazine Winter 2010

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