15/07/2025
🇧🇿🏐 FRANCIS HAUZE: FROM LAKE I TO LEGEND🏐🇧🇿
Every now and then, life gives you a full-circle moment — and watching my boy Francis Hauze aka Cito lead Belize to a silver medal at the 2025 Senior Men’s Championship in El Salvador… and earn the title of Best Attacker in Central America… was one of those moments. 🙌🏽🔥
Francis is just 25 — right at the start of his athletic prime — and he’s staring down the start of a professional career, with years of sacrifice, discipline, and growth behind him. But what makes his story so powerful isn’t just the talent. It’s the journey.
He’s a kid from Lake Independence — one of Belize’s toughest neighborhoods — who found a way out through volleyball. I first met him back in 2016 — a shy teenager (he really did not speak much!!) tagging along with the Men’s National Team during a tournament Belize hosted. He didn’t play much that year, but he watched everything. You could already tell — he wanted it.
He started shadowing my younger brother Bryton Codd, mimicking his habits, studying his work ethic, heck even his 90's R&B singer fashion sense . I’ll never forget the day Bryton and Karym signed their letter of intent to go to university in Canada. Francis, along with the rest of the crew were in the house at Marion Jones Stadium, quiet but full of hope. I turned to my senior Missa Markie, who gave us the confidence early on to get BK Sports Group started and said, “You see dah lee one deh Missa Markie? He’s next.”
And boy he was.
As Bryton and Karym took off in Canada, we figured let's go for it for Hauze as well, and he earned his first shot at University through Medicine Hat College. Sadly, his Canadian student athlete dream was cut short quickly as he was unable to secure a student visa. That could’ve broken him, as we were operating on full visibility during those days. But Francis didn’t quit. He doubled down. When we found a new path through Calumet College of St. Joseph in Indiana, he grabbed it. And in true BK fashion, he opened the door for four more national teammates to follow. That’s legacy-building.
He trained in his sweet mother Ther Hauze's backyard during COVID when those lockdowns were happening. He lived lean. He worked hard. And now, he’s climbed to the top of regional volleyball — not just because of talent, but because of grit, consistency, and heart. 💪🏽
What moves me most is watching these young men — Francis, Ernest Broaster Jr., Kaelen Ingram, and others — finally get it. Not just the game. Life. To see them carry themselves with purpose, with pride, with brotherhood… that’s what this is all about.
But here’s the truth: this life isn’t easy. Growing up in Belize — especially as a young man — comes with pressure, trauma, and limited options. Not everyone makes it. That’s why support matters. That’s why we need more programs, more mentorship, more structure, more community… and more patience.
These boys carry so much on their shoulders. Give them just a little more — a little more consistency, a little more belief, a little more opportunity — and they will blow the ceiling off of what’s possible. 🇧🇿
Francis continues to have my full support and access to every resource I can offer. He is a worthwhile investment, and the future of our national team. Unreservedly, I can say it loudly that our country’s spirit will be shaped by how far young men and women like him can go.
To my little brother Cito, you’ve made us all proud.
Keep pushing. Keep shining. The world is watching now. 🌍🔥
