Business
BY JOVANNA AGUILAR
Texas Tornados helps students secure college scholarships.
Texas Tornados is located in a 56,000-square-foot building.
PHOTOS COURTESY TEXAS TORNADOS
Texas Tornados Volleyball instills life, volleyball skills JoEllen Saulsberry founded Texas Tornados to help students secure college scholarships in 1994. “I had a basketball coach that was very inuen- tial in my life as a youth athlete, and so.. I wanted to pay that gift forward,” Saulsberry said. How it started win, at the end of the day, I want to put good humans back in the community,” Saulsberry said. What they oer
Mother and daughter JoEllen Saulsberry and Kirby Kliafas coach at Texas Tornados Volleyball.
Serving students from kindergarten through 18 years of age, Texas Tornados oers several volleyball and basketball programs. Saulsberry said 7,750 students have transferred to universities with scholarships after being trained at Texas Tornados. More than volleyball skills, Saulsberry said her goal is to teach students life skills they can take on to their future. “I feel like sports are so important because it teaches a lot of valuable life lessons. So that’s what I try to instill in the players,” Saulsberry said.
Growing up in California, Saulsberry said she started playing volleyball and basketball as a hobby. After transferring to the University of Houston, she met Bill Walton, a coach that would end up being a mentor and father gure in her life. Today, Walton is a coach at Texas Tornados where he continues to inuence Saulsberry’s passion. “Although we’re competitive and we want to
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8835 Wheat Cross Drive, Houston www.texastornados.org
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See firefighters explain why clean gutters matter.
• Remove lint, dust, and grease from exhaust fans. They can accumulate on fan blades and in ducts, creating a significant fire risk when the fan heats up.
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