Field Hockey
Favorite athlete: Derek Jeter
Favorite team: Yankees
Favorite memory competing in sports: My favorite memory is definitely winning the (district) game against 
Perk Valley, which qualified us for states. We didn’t stop cheering the whole bus ride home.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: When one of our players scored when we played Neshaminy, we all group hugged, but one of us tripped, causing us to knock down the entire cage!
Music on iPod: Kanye West, Bastille, Calvin Harris, and Drake.
Future plans: I will be attending and playing field hockey at Tufts University.
Words to live by: “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
One goal before turning 30: Travel the world with my best friends.
One thing people don’t know about me: I am a certified scuba diver.
By Mary Jane Souder
Gigi Tutoni will never be accused of being one-dimensional.
The Council Rock North senior, who is the consummate student-athlete, does it all.
Tutoni is equally comfortable on the hockey field or in a science lab. She enjoys the complexity of a math equation and the challenge of snowboarding down a black diamond trail.
Tutoni’s new passion is creating sculptures and pottery in her AP 3D art class. She’s also a certified scuba diver and is at home underwater off the shores of Bonaire or St. Kitts in the Caribbean.
A highly intelligent student, Tutoni scored a 780 out of 800 on the math portion of the SAT, but she is hardly a math geek. In fact, she’s pretty much the life of the party.
“I have never seen her mad in my life,” Rock North field hockey coach Heather Whalin said. “It’s funny because people might think she’s goofy and doesn’t have the brains. She’s a mathematical genius.”
Tutoni’s ability to keep things light, according to Whalin, was key in the Indians’ run to a share of the SOL National Conference title and a berth in the state tournament.
“She was enthusiastic all the time,” the Indians’ coach said. “When we didn’t feel like practicing, she would make everyone laugh.
“If we’re having a really tense moment, she would lighten the mood by cracking a joke or doing something silly, and it really helped us stay loose. She helped this team, and I think that’s why we were successful this year because they were loose.
“They weren’t stressed. They didn’t come into a game all tight. They would have fun. She would sing them songs before a game. She always does the cheers before the game. It just comes naturally.”
Unanimously voted captain by her teammates, Tutoni contributed more than just welcome levity to the team. A first team all-league selection, she was the team MVP as a junior.
“She’s so fast, and she can actually maintain that speed with the ball, which is very rare,” Whalin said. “In our last game (a 2-1 loss to Wyoming Valley West in the opening round of states), she was phenomenal.
“Her passing sequences – she sees the field, she knows where to put the ball, she’s a great distributor. If you need her to go get you a goal, she’ll go get you a goal. In our game against Rock South, she singlehandedly won the game for us with a goal 22 seconds into overtime.”
A three-year varsity starter, Tutoni was introduced to hockey as a sixth grader at Sol Feinstone Elementary School.
“It was really out of the blue,” she said. “They introduced the sport after school and said there’s going to be an elementary school tournament. I didn’t want to do it at first, but my friend really wanted me to sign up.
“We signed up together. Our moms bought us field hockey sticks. We got a rag tag team together, and we won, so I figured I might as well give the sport a shot.”
Hockey has been front and center in Tutoni’s life since that time.
“I tried swimming, I tried soccer, I did dance,” she said. “I did everything, and field hockey was just this brand new thing, and I just picked it up naturally.
“I was always athletic, I knew how to play sports. I was pretty good at soccer, but I wasn’t going to be able to go anywhere with it. I was happy to start field hockey, and I really wanted to dedicate myself fully to it. Field hockey was different. I love unique things, and I feel like field hockey is a unique sport. It was a really nice change.”
By seventh grade, Tutoni had joined Mystx on the club circuit with her good friend, Theresa Delahanty. Five years later, Tutoni and Delahanty were co-captains of this year’s successful squad.
“It was a great group of girls,” Tutoni said. “The chemistry on my team is only equal to the one on my club team.
“Those two teams – I’ve never met a group of girls that loved each other more. I think it basically made us because we had this unspoken communication. I knew that Theresa was behind me or that Jennica (Jonovich) was cutting through for the ball. I knew where they were going to be running. It’s hard to explain.
“When you’re not close friends with everyone, it’s really easy to get angry at someone if they screw up. If you love them like a sister, you’re not going to get angry. You’re going to help them fix it, and that’s how you’re going to win a game. You don’t win a game when you’re fighting each other. You win when you’re fighting against the other team.”
Tutoni says she will remember the Neshaminy game, the Rock South game, the Perk Valley district game for a spot in states, but what she will remember most are the team’s ‘fun days.’
“Every year our coach takes us some place – only the seniors know,” she said. “This year we went to Campbell Beach in the Poconos – a mountain they turn into a water park over the summer.
“We all wore one-piece bathing suits, no make-up, and we were all so awkward looking, but we were just having so much fun. There was a kid in the wave pool, and he started drowning. Me and Theresa saved him. It was the most insane day. We’re all wiped out on the bus at the end of the day. Everyone is sleeping. One person is piled on top of the other person. I’m going to miss being so close to everyone figuratively and literally.”
When it came time to choose a college, academics came first for Tutoni, who is considering a chemistry, biology or biochemistry major.
“Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a scientist,” she said. “When recruiting time came, I was always looking for the schools that would offer me the best opportunities in life and becoming what I want to be.
“That made the recruiting process a lot harder.”
While attending a hockey camp with her friend Taylor Gray from Mount St. Joseph Academy, she met the coach from Tufts University.
“She was interested in me, and I was very interested in Tufts University because it’s a great school academically and athletically,” Tutoni said. “The more I learned about it, the more I figured it was a great fit for me.
“I love field hockey. I couldn’t imagine going another four years without it, but I also need time to do my homework and get good grades. Tina McDavitt (Mattera), the Tufts coach, is the nicest, funniest woman.
“When your coach is Heather Whalin, you need a really good coach because she (Whalin) is going to be one of the people I miss most.”
Tutoni is a member of the National Honor Society and Science Honor Society. She helps tutor youngsters and recently assisted at a science fair at Churchville Elementary School, showing the children experiments and answering questions. She also is a member of Rock South’s Ski and Snowboard Club.
“I love snowboarding,” she said. “I’m not the best snowboarder, but I can still go down black diamonds and stuff like that. That little break in the middle of the year just makes me happy.”
Ask Tutoni what she sees herself doing in 10 years, and she’s uncertain.
“I want to be helping society,” she said. “Whether I’m doing something drastic like fighting evil or giving someone the pharmaceuticals to help their daily ailments.”
One thing is certain, according to her coach, things will not be the same without her on the hockey field.
“I’ve coached her since she was in seventh grade,” said Whalin, also a Mystx coach. “The way she is in life- that’s the way she in on the field. She’s going to be impossible to replace.”
