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
Starting o with 40 donated volleyballs and four teams, executive club director JoEllen Saulsberry founded Texas Tornados Volleyball to train aspiring volleyball players and help students secure college scholarships in 1994. “I had a basketball coach that was very in uential in my life as a youth athlete, and so.. I wanted to pay that gift forward,” Saulsberry said. How it started Growing up in California, Saulsberry said volleyball was huge. She started playing volleyball and basketball as a hobby with her best friend. After transferring to the University of Houston during her senior year, she met Bill Walton, a coach that would end up being a mentor and father gure in her life. Paying forward the techniques instilled in her, Saulsberry decided to open her own volleyball training facility in Cypress. Originally operated from her own home and dierent spaces she leased, after 10 years Saulsberry said she purchased the 56,000-square-foot land where Texas Tornados Volleyball resides today from Fred Caldwell, developer of Towne Lake, in 2004. Today, Walton is a coach at Texas Tornados where he continues to in uence Saulsberry’s passion. “Although we’re competitive and we want to win, at the end of the day, I want to put good humans back in the community,” Saulsberry said. Furthering her legacy, Saulsberry said she was pregnant with her daughter Kirby Kliafas when she rst built Texas
Tornados Volleyball, and now her daughter coaches at the training facility. What they oer Serving students from kindergarten through 18 years of age, Texas Tornados Volleyball oers several programs, including: • Twister Tots: an entry level experience for children ages 5-18 • Tumbleweeds: designed for boys and girls in grades 3-8 who want to build strong volleyball fundamentals • Spring Valley Tots: entry-level volleyball experience for boys and girls in kindergarten- third grade • Hoops Jr. Basketball: designed for boys and girls in pre-K through sixth grade who want to build strong basketball fundamentals 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. “Like how to work with other people.. how to work through failure, and it builds character at the end of the day.”
Mother and daughter JoEllen Saulsberry and Kirby Kliafas coach at Texas Tornados Volleyball.
Texas Tornados trains students up to 18 years old.
N
8835 Wheat Cross Drive, Houston www.texastornados.org
29
CYPRESS EDITION
Powered by FlippingBook