Playing on varsity is a big deal. For freshman Luca Giardello, his journey to varsity was a long one. Giardello has put major time and effort into tennis over the summertime and throughout his time in middle school to get to where he is today. Giardello has been playing for roughly three years and is now entering his first high school season.
“We basically played all summer long every day of the week, then a week before school started we had a challenge week where you just play a bunch of matches to get your spot, and if you do well, you do well. If you don’t do well, you don’t do well” Giardello said.
Playing twice every day in the summer is very intense, it takes a lot of effort and a good mindset. Training over the whole summer was a very time-consuming process and tested the athletes on how much work they were willing to put in the work.
“I don’t only practice during the summer, I have a friend and coach named Blaine Ford who gives me private lessons and helps me work on my skills that I don’t get taught in practice,” Giardello said.
Giardello takes extra time out of his life, even when he isn’t at a scheduled practice, to get better and work on his skills. From the time summer started, to challenge week, Giardello played almost every day he could. He believes that keeping a strong mindset and staying focused on tennis was a major piece to preparation.
“For the tryout, I went in with the attitude of I want to win and I want to be on varsity,” Giardello said.
He had a high attitude and a strong ego when going into tryouts. He always keeps his head up even in tough situations and challenging times. Giardello showed up to every practice, and on tryout day, he gave it his all.
“I had been told by my coach that he really wanted me to be at tryouts and that he had thought that I had a really good chance to be on varsity. So in the back of my mind, I did think that I was gonna be on it. But of course, in the front of my mind, I was mostly focused on just showing up and playing the best I could.” Giardello said.
