Brandon Brooks (water polo)

Brandon Brooks (born April 29, 1981), who played water polo as a goalie for UCLA and the 2004 United States National team, is now the assistant coach for both the men's and women's water polo teams at UCLA and a goalkeeper with the US Water Polo team. The women's team won the 2008 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship on May 11, 2008 [ [http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/home?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/NCAA/NCAA+News/NCAA+News+Online/2008/Assocation-wide/UCLA+wins+fourth+straight+-+05-12-08+NCAA+News NCAA News: UCLA wins fourth straight] ] and one of his players, Courtney Mathewson, captured the Peter J. Cutino Award as the player-of-the year [ [http://www.ncaa.com/waterpolo-womens/article.aspx?id=261324 NCAA News: UCLA's Mathewson Captures Cutino Award] ] .

Early Years

Brooks is the oldest in his family of three children. He has twin sisters. He was born in Rock Island, Illinois, but was educated in Honolulu Hawaii and attended Punahou School. At Punahou, he played both basketball and water polo.

College

He was the goalkeeper at UCLA for four years and was a four-time All-America selection (1999 hm, 2000, 2001, and 2002). He helped UCLA to NCAA Men's Water Polo Championships in 1999 and 2000, and became the school's all-time leader with 700 saves. He was also a three-time All-MPSF honoree (2000, 2001, and 2002).

Brooks was a walked-on to UCLA basketball team his freshman year. He graduated from UCLA in 2005 with a degree in sociology.

Olympic Games

In the summer 2004 Olympic Games, Brooks, Adam Wright and Brett Ormsby, two former UCLA teammates, completed for Team USA in Athens Greece. He is a member of 2008 Water Polo Team USA [ [http://waterpolo.usoc.org/news/article/346 USA Men's Senior National Team] ] . In the gold medal championship match, Brooks had four saves and helped the USA team to win the silver medal, losing to Hungary 14-10. He was a big cheerleader on the bench for the United States team.

References