Cool Cat: Luis Brito
Favorite Childhood Memory:
Hard to narrow down, but one of my favorite childhood memories would have to be my family’s trips up into the mountains to go sledding and play in the snow. My family lived in central California before moving up to Washington, so we didn’t see much snow most winters. Which made day trips to the mountains every winter all the more magical!
Why you want to get to know this person:
Luis is a CWU student who is quite the Spikeball pro. He is finishing up his degree in the aviation program as well.
COVID-19 has changed a lot of our plans this year. But Luis still tries to get out and play Spikeball as much as possible.
Tell us more about your hobbies, Spikeball specifically:
The sport of roundnet, commonly referred to as Spikeball, has similar gameplay to 2v2 volleyball. However, instead of hitting over a volleyball net to change possession of the ball, the ball is hit off of a round net on the ground.
I’ve played roundnet competitively for about 3 years now and have won or at least podiumed at a handful of tournaments. During the most recent season, my partner and I placed high enough at sectionals to earn a nationals bid for CWU, but College Nationals was canceled about a week later when the COVID lockdowns started.
Although, we haven’t gotten to play much more competitively this year because of COVID, my roommates and I still play as often as we can. Even if we don’t have enough people to play a proper game, we still have fun just practicing and running drills.
It’s been so fun watching the sport grow and evolve the last few years. So many aspects of gameplay have been optimized recently, so learning or developing new strategies is always a fun new challenge. I think my favorite things about the sport though is meeting new people. Everyone in the competitive scene is so friendly and encouraging, so it’s easy to make friends in such a positive culture.
Where you can find Luis:
Whenever the weather’s nice, I love being outdoor with friends, whether it’s hammocking, chilling on the Music Lawn, or taking the drive to Lake Cle Elum.
Since I’m in the aviation program, I’m also frequently up at the airport, getting ready for flights, studying, etc.
Personal Goals:
I really like traveling (one of the reasons I became a pilot), but haven’t gotten to do much of it lately because of school (and more recently COVID). So one of my goals is to visit every continent (except Antarctica, too cold). There are so many beautiful places to see and wonderful cultures to experience! Hard to even know where to start!
Another personal goal I have is to earn premier status in Spikeball, which basically just means that you’ve placed high enough at certain tournaments and are eligible to compete in a higher-skilled division. It’s a great way to challenge myself to continue practicing and stay motivated!
Career Goals:
For most of my flight training, my dream has always been to be a captain at a major airline (specifically Alaska), but more recently (especially in the wake of the Evans Canyon fire a couple months ago), I have been really drawn to the idea of aerial firefighting. It seems like it would be some pretty exiting flying and I am really interested to learn more about what it would take!
Fun Facts:
A couple other facts about me is that I’m pretty good at juggling (been doing it for about 10 years, although I haven’t practiced much recently). I also really like playing the piano. I think it’s really fun to learn new songs or try to figure out how to play an old song in a new way. Music just allows so many opportunities to be creative!
Quote to Live by:
I really like the quote by John Wesley in which he says, “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.” The concept seems so simple, but can have such a big impact on others!
