Brooke Windsor could follow a path few senior star athletes choose: Add a sport to the three she’s already playing. The Cambridge-South Dorchester three-sport standout would like to make it four, playing both soccer and football next fall.
That’s right—she could join the football team.
“Football coach (Gavin Parker) contacted me because he had heard she was such a force with her leg,” Cambridge-South Dorchester Girls Soccer Coach Kareen Otey recalls. “He said, ‘Can she come out?’ She went to a practice and made a kick of (about) 45 yards. He (Parker) said he will send her to a couple of summer kicking camps.”
Windsor says she would be interested in doing that. She felt she didn’t have enough experience to be a place kicker last fall. “I’d like time to practice,” Windsor explains. “I’m definitely looking forward to trying camps. I have played soccer, basketball, and softball my whole life. It would be exciting to play a new sport.”
Otey is certainly glad she decided to just concentrate on soccer this past fall because she put together a memorable year. Windsor amassed a whopping 31 goals and led the Vikings to an 8-4 record. That nearly doubled the number of goals she recorded in each of her first two varsity seasons.
The 5-foot-7 Windsor is blossoming at the right time. A high school player’s junior year is a big recruiting period for colleges and she has garnered serious interest from UMBC, Johns Hopkins, Gettysburg, York, and Clarion.
Windsor is no doubt attractive to the schools for more than her soccer skills. She carries a weighted 4.3-grade point average, takes advanced placement courses in chemistry, English, and world history, and wants to be an anesthesiologist.
When it comes to soccer, Windsor’s club coach, Bayshore’s Mike Leach, says the 16-year-old can play the sport at the highest collegiate level. “She has all the qualities to play Division I,” says Leach, who also coaches the Kent Island High girls soccer team. “Speed, physicality, and the determination to score goals.”
UMBC and Gettysburg top Windsor’s list. “It would be nice to play Division I soccer, but I am really looking for a great academic school with excellent coaches and players,” Windsor says. “I want it to be a great learning environment, where I can continue to play and become better.”
Windsor improved her goal total in 2018 thanks to hard work. She focused sharply on her shooting with her club and high school teams. “I have been working really hard on my finishes,” she says. “I just constantly take shots, and shots until it becomes second nature.”
Opponents noticed her accuracy. She scored four goals in four lopsided victories and also notched five in a 6-0 thumping of Mardela on September 11th. “She just had that hot foot,” Otey says of her high goal total. “We (the coaching staff) told her, ‘If you are right outside the (18-yard) goal box or near it, shoot’ because she is so accurate and has a powerful leg. She is a freak of nature. She is years ahead of what a high school player should be.”
Her soccer coaches also appreciate her leadership skills. She co-captained both her club and high school teams.
“She pushes players and makes them better by how hard she works,” Leach says. “She was captain on my team and her high school team. That shows her leadership ability when she is getting chosen captain as a junior when there are older girls on the teams.”
Cambridge-South Dorchester Girls Basketball Coach Bruce Springer loved how Windsor responded to the challenge of playing center when Ashia Wright got injured.
Windsor, a two-year starter, went onto lead the team in rebounding by averaging 11 per game despite consistently facing bigger players.
“She is not real tall, but she always seems to be around the ball,” Springer says. “She’s very aggressive by nature. That helps her rebound as well. I know she didn’t play a lot of basketball before she came to Cambridge. She played on her junior high team. They played five games and had practice one day a week. Because of her athleticism, she’s learned to be a pretty solid player.”
Windsor also started at first base the past two seasons for the Vikings’ varsity softball team. She batted .300 as a freshman, then .384 as a sophomore. “What makes her so attractive and just so good in the sports that she plays is the fact that she is a natural leader,” says Springer, who is also an assistant softball coach at the school. “She works very hard. She is usually the first one to practice and the last one to leave. I think that rubs off on other players.”
