Brady Mazzola ’00, co-founder and CEO of Watering Seeds Organization, has been watering the seeds of hope and encouragement for physically challenged athletes since 2004. Along with partners and co-founders, Ryan Stickley and Keith Bowden, he has created a charitable sports organization that helps these future athletes get off the sidelines and into the game.
Mazzola, a native of Orange, enjoyed a stellar academic and athletic career at Lamar. He was one of the top 20 tennis players in the state as an athlete at Little Cypress-Mauriceville High School and earned a scholarship to play tennis for Lamar. As a collegiate student/athlete, he earned top honors as a member of the Sun Belt and Southland Conference All-Academic teams. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a minor in business.
He began his career as a professional tennis coach at Willow Fork Country Club in Katy where he helped the Taylor High School tennis team win a district 5-A state championship. From there, his career path led him to Los Angeles where he was invited to play in a tennis exhibition featuring players who were physically challenged and/or wheelchair-bound. Inspired by the athletes’ amazing ability to overcome their physical and mental obstacles to compete, Watering Seeds was formed as a non-profit sports organization to assist individuals with physical disabilities. The name signifies the founders’ commitment to planting seeds of encouragement and continuously “watering” those seeds with positive interactions and a dedicated belief in helping people.
“I had never seen wheelchair tennis before and I was inspired by the courage and determination of those wheelchair athletes,” Mazzola said. “I think it says a lot about a person’s character to rise above such adversity. On the outside, they are physically knocked down, but on the inside they’re standing up; full of hope and fiercely alive.” Although he continues to teach tennis to a select clientele, creating the organization has thrust him into the role of executive producer of a documentary tentatively titled “Perseverant Spirit.” Watering Seeds co-founder and production partner Keith Bowden is an award-winning director and producer. The film project was originally created as a show for The Tennis Channel geared toward wheelchair tennis, but the scope of the project grew to encompass the multitude of sports for physically challenged athletes. The film is scheduled to be distributed in theaters in spring 2007 and will highlight the spirit, heart and character of these unsung sports heroes.
The idea for athletic competition for the disabled athlete was born in 1948 when Sir Ludwig Gutmann organized a sports competition in England for World War II veterans who had suffered spinal cord injuries during the war. Four years later, the Netherlands joined the games and the international movement was born. Olympic style games for athletes with disabilities were first organized in 1960 in Rome and are now called the Paralympics. Winter and summer Paralympics games are held every four years and include such sports as fencing, rowing, power lifting, sailing, tennis, rugby and skiing, among others. “We’re working with the military and, more specifically, veterans who have suffered amputations or disabling injuries to introduce them to adaptive sports as a means of rehabilitation and a vehicle to regain their independence,” he said. “We also work with children who are born with birth defects such as spina bifida, cerebral palsy and other spinal cord injuries to allow them to participate and enjoy the benefits of being an athlete. This helps improve their self-esteem and confidence and gives them an outlet to become active.”
The Watering Seeds Organization assists in this endeavor by providing adaptive sports equipment for physically challenged athletes. Sports wheelchairs can cost from $2,000 to as much as $6,000, and prosthetic running legs can cost as much as $45,000. Most insurance companies view specialized sports prosthetics and sports wheelchairs in the same way they view elective surgery, leaving the aspiring athlete to foot the bill. Watering Seeds provides financial assistance to athletes for the purchase of such equipment. It is the goal of the organization to show there is an opportunity for an athletic lifestyle after a physical disability.
The vision and dream of the founders is to build a 215,000 square-foot state-of-the-art sports rehabilitation center. The center will include a sports arena for tennis, hockey, basketball and many of the sports espoused by the U.S. Paralympics Committee. The vision includes an Olympic-size swimming pool with a diving well and a rehabilitation clinic staffed by physical therapists. The center will offer guest quarters in which the families of the physically challenged can stay while their loved ones receive evaluation and physical therapy.
“From a young age, I saw first-hand the true meaning of southern hospitality,” Mazzola said. “As a student athlete, there were so many people at Lamar who helped me along the way. There were times when professors would make special allowances for me due to an often rigorous, tennis travel schedule. I fully realize that I couldn’t have made it to where I am today without their help. Watering Seeds was founded on the same premise of helping people grow and achieve their full potential in life. Lamar University certainly helped me succeed and now I feel it’s my obligation to help others do the same.”
