Kat on a Hot Tin Roof
by John Rizzuti
Her dad says she’s a regular girl. She’s not. She is sleek, smooth and fiery. On the wrestling mat she takes no prisoners. Off the mat, she smiles gently, speaks softly, with her long black hair tied tightly in a ponytail. We’re talking about Klein wrestler and All-American Lindsey Brooks. She wrestles at 148 pounds under her coach’s rule (her coach is also her father, Mark Brooks) that she cuts no weight. Brooks, Sr. doesn’t like any of his wrestlers to cut weight. Often girls who wrestle at 148 and are 5’ 4” or so, might be chunky. Lindsey is not.
When you look at her the first thing you notice, if you have a pulse, is her body. It’s almost perfect. I knew right away this is a girl who works out all the time and who weight trains. She’s not powerfully built like a guy, but well developed and finely-tuned like an Olympic-class athlete, which she could be some day.
No doubt her work ethic comes from a wide variety of sources. Her father, being her coach, and of course, and what she did growing up to the sixth grade. Activities that included being an accomplished ballet dancer, a noted gymnast and a cheerleader. With her sparkling and attractive looks she could be a cheerleader right now! Frankly, Lindsey, who I’ve never seen in anything but a wrestling singlet, is a knockout both physically and with her personality. This is what makes her so interesting.
Right now she holds the Texas school-girl record for wins. Her record now is 118-6. This year she is 40-0 and recently won both district and regional championships. Unless something unexpected happens, she is well on her way to another state UIL title too. Doing a little math shows that she could end her high school record with something like 160 wins and that would make it prohibitive for anyone to ever break her record.
At the Region III meet at Allen, Lindsey was top-seed of course. In the finals she met another unbeaten wrestler in Kristi Smith of Clute Brazos who was 24-0 at the time of the match. When they met at the center to start, Lindsey fired out to begin. Kristi, who is no slouch of a wrestler herself, threw Lindsey back and counter-attacked her. A girl with less mat presence and experience than Lindsey would have been on her back but with great speed and balance she countered expertly.
What would have been a fun match to watch ended suddenly as Kristi dislocated her elbow. It was a bad injury and you knew immediately the match was over. I went to interview Lindsey but she cut me short so she could go check on her injured opponent. That isn’t surprising if you know her. Class, personality and looks. Add that to a wrestling repertoire that sets her apart from almost all other girls and you have the making of a champion on and off the mat. Girls like Lindsey make female wrestling more fun and cool for a reporter to cover.
Lindsey followed wrestling for many years prior to starting in the ninth grade. You do that when your dad is the wrestling coach. She took to the sport like a duck to water. She was good enough to finish 5th at Fargo to get her All-American honors. Look for more and better on that this summer and next.
I asked her dad about college and his answer was most interesting. “If Oklahoma State had wrestling she’d have already signed,” he told me. He told me of any interesting story that at the OSU camp last summer, six-time world champion John Smith demonstrated his vaunted low single takedown move using Lindsey as his partner.
Brooks, Sr. went to UT so if wrestling were there I’m sure Lindsey would go there too. I would definitely look for Lindsey to continue her wrestling after graduating (with honors) from Klein High School.
Like I said earlier, this is a girl who could someday wrap herself in the American flag and waltz up on the raised-mat podium and go to war with girls from other countries in the Olympic Games. She is that good and that disciplined. It wouldn’t surprise me at all.
A note to high school guys; this dynamic package does not have a boyfriend. Don’t be scared of her dad (who takes some of the blame) he’s more like a teddy bear than anything! She is the total package! But don’t mess with her on the mat. She’ll whip you good!
I am so tired of hearing about how wonderful Lindsey Brooks is as a wrestler and a person. She may be an excellent wrestler but, she is conceited and too full of herself. Some people have more respect for a champion who is humble.
Well you are entitled to your opinion of course but if Lindsey were as you say so self-centered and conceited why did she cut short her interview with a reporter after less than two minutes so she could check on her injured opponent?
BTW, I do my first featurte on a girl in 3 years and another girl bitches. You can’t win in this business.
John,
Keep up the great work. It is nice to see the young women get some recognition (and feedback too!).
Down the road, when you’re not so swamped with the “other” business (you know, the one that pays the bills!), you may want to consider setting up a completely separate site for the women wrestlers. I’m sure you’d get even more feedback posted ans participation from that segment.
Take care.
I’m waiting for Desiree French to graduate. I’m going to hand that job off to her!
John, I talked to Desiree at regionals. I think she may be interested in a paying gig covering the girls at State.
Desiree — email me real quick. jrizzuti@aol.com
I’m glad to see recognition for any of the girls in a larger forum, but I think all of the comments about her figure and whether or not she has a boyfriend were highly inappropriate. Lindsey is only 16 and there were more comments about her physical appearance than anything else. When you write about the guys – what do you make comments about? I bet it’s not their “dynamic package”.
I am all for bringing attention to girls wrestling. I just think that the articles should stick to wrestling abilities and not comments about physical appearances.
I am a female wrestler from the same region. I was at the regional tournament this weekend where you claim that Miss Brooks showed such wonderful sportsmanship. And yes someone leaving an interview to check on an injured opponent is admirable. However, when that person was ordered to do so by her father and her coach it takes some of the honor out of the act, doesn’t it? Lindsey is not so upstanding as you have protrayed her. At the state tournament in 2005 Lindsey assisted a fellow wrestler by disclosing every move of the number two seed in order to ensure that her way to a championship would be easy one. And with regards to the weight cutting Lindsey had planned to drop down to the 138 weight class this year and was in fact dehydrating herself to make it, however, when it came to her atttention that a fellow All American from another school and favorite to win the division was a threat she turned and ran tail between her legs, a true Bearkat. Lindsey’s best asset is without a doubt her father who has a genuine love for the sport and all those involved. Do not mistake this as the rantings of a jealous competitor, she is a talented wrestler but I believe that a true champion is measured by their character when they don’t know that they are being watched and are motivated by good nature alone. And I agree with the previous comment that it is good to mention the women in wrestling, however, I think that we should stick to wrestling and not become a dating service.
Wrastlemom get your sick mind out of the gutter. Commenting about the athleticism of a girl’s body due to years of gymnastics and ballet and weight training is not commenting on her “body.” I have a daughter. Her name is Lisa Austin. If you go to my company website (www.rizzuti.com) you see her picture — she is standing next to me. She is my business partner. That’s right she is the Austin in Rizzuti/Austin Marketing. We have worked together for 15 years. I don’t need you to tell me what is appropriate. I tell you what is appropriate. Your comments are highly offensive to me. You offend anyone who pays the price to perfect their athleticism.
I also spoke to her father about the very same thing! He didn’t react like you! Of course he isn’t thinking with one eye to the gutter.
Wrestling: I stand by the entire story. The comment at the end was meant for fun. Again I talked to her dad about the same thing. You are so freakin jealous it almost sickens me.
Just so you know, I DO read these comments. And I DON’T appreciate you saying things about me that are not true. I’ll have you know that I would have been right there by Kristi the entire time she was on the mat, at the training table, and at the hospital if I could have; in fact, my coach was holding me back from going over next to her while she was still on the mat. She was a good friend of mine; besides, coaches don’t have to tell their athletes to go check on their injured friends, ESPECIALLY when that athlete was the one who accidentally injured them. You obviously don’t know me.
Secondly, what are you talking about when you say something about “at the state tournament in 2005 Lindsey assisted a fellow wrestler by disclosing every move of the number two seed in order to ensure that her way to a championship would be easy one,” what Lindsey Brooks were you talking about? Obviously it wasn’t me, since I don’t memorize every single move my opponents do. I wrestle my matches to the best of my ability and that’s it. I don’t try to weasel my way through matches by strategizing or scouting. I do what I do and if it’s not good enough, then so be it.
Third, if that weight cutting issue you were referring to was at Houston Lee when I didn’t wrestle 138, I’ll have you know that there were reasons NOT associated with wrestling that I couldn’t get my weight down. Since you are a female, I should hope you can guess what that was. I’m not afraid to wrestle anybody– again, if you knew me, you would know that. I have great respect for that fellow All-American, and I know she will win state this year because she is an extremely talented wrestler. Wrestling with her a few times this summer cement that conviction into my brain. Also, I never planned to drop to 138. My weight was low (141-ish) those few times, there were weight allowances, and I wanted to wrestle some different people for a change. Is that a crime?
Lastly, I would like for you to leave my father out of this. Yes, he IS my coach, but that doesn’t have anything to do with my drive, passion for the sport, or desire to compete. When I’m wrestling he is my coach, when I’m at home he is my dad. He raised me well enough to take responsibility for my own actions and what I say, which, obviously, you’re not doing in remaining anonymous.
Whoever you are, you don’t know me, so please, don’t come on here acting like you do.
In the story I said Lindsey was “fiery.” I guess I know what I am doing!
Anyone can hide behind a keyboard and say stuff like that. Pretty cowardly and classless also to come on here and pick out a very talented wrestler and try to tear them down. Question though, what knowledge do you have of these events? Were you at the State tournament when she was “scheming”? Were you in the conversation between her and her father when allegedly he told her to go check on her opponent? How do you know that she had no intent on doing so? I speak with her on a daily basis and not once did she say she was definitely going 138 and didn’t dodge anyone. The only time she wanted to go 38 was for duals to help her team. If you’re going to rip on someone, have some guts and at least leave your name and not hide behind a computer screen. Sad, really…