Brandon Brooks (born April 29, 1981), who played water polo as a goalie for

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

and the 2004 and 2008 United States National teams, was the head coach of the women's water polo team at UCLA until 2017. The women's team won the 2008 and 2009

NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship The NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship has existed since the 2001 season. Seven conferences have teams competing in women's water polo: the Big West Conference, the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA), the single-sport Golden Coast Conferen ...

, and one of his players,

Courtney Mathewson Courtney Lynn Kaiulani Mathewson (born September 14, 1986) is an American water polo player, part of the US team that won the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She played water polo for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Brui ...

, captured the Peter J. Cutino Award as the player-of-the year in 2008. On June 3, 2009, Brooks was named the head coach of the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). ...

women's water polo team, having served as its men's and women's water polo team assistant coach. He was also named as an assistant coach to the USA water polo women's senior national team for the

2009 FINA World Championships The 2009 World Aquatics Championships ( it, Campionati mondiali di nuoto 2009) or the XIII FINA World Championships were held in Rome, Italy from 18 July to 2 August 2009. The 2009 Championships featured competition in all 5 aquatics disciplines ...

Early years

Brooks is the oldest in his family of three children. He has twin sisters. He was born in

Rock Island, Illinois Rock Island is a city in and the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The original Rock Island, from which the city name is derived, is now called Rock Island Arsenal, Arsenal Island. The popul ...

, but was educated in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...

, and attended

Punahou School Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through twelfth grade, 12th grade. Protestant missionar ...

. 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 Championship The NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship is an annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA men's collegiate water polo. Beginning in 1969, it has been held every year except 2020, when it was postponed to March 2021 because of the C ...

s in 1999 and 2000, and became the school's all-time leader with 700 saves. He was also a three-time All-

MPSF The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the western United States, although it now has members as far east as Pennsylvania. The conference participates at the NCAA Division I ...

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 was a member of 2008 Water Polo

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

. 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.

Coaching

During his three years as the head women's water polo coach at UCLA, Brooks' team has won two MPSF Tournament championships. In the 2012 tournament title game, the team defeated Stanford 8-7 in overtime, and he was rewarded with the

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the western United States, although it now has members as far east as Pennsylvania. The conference participates at the NCAA Division I ...

(MPSF) Coach of the Year honor. 2012 All-MPSF Women's Water Polo Selections
MPSF, May 3, 2012

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Brandon 1981 births Living people American male water polo players Water polo goalkeepers Water polo players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Water polo players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in water polo UCLA Bruins men's water polo players American water polo coaches National team coaches Punahou School alumni