Golf
Favorite athlete: Shaun White
Favorite team: Philadelphia Flyers
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning my first tournament at Bucks County Country Club – Philly Junior PGA, and shooting a 79 in districts this year.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Dad’s phone going off in the middle of my backswing in districts second qualifier and chunking the ball into the hazard.
Music on iPod: Mac Miller, Foo Fighters, Rihanna, U2, Britney Spears
Future plans: Math teacher and LPGA
Words to live by: ‘Everything happens for a reason.’
One goal before turning 30: Travel to adventurous places
One thing people don’t know about me: I rode bike with no training wheels when I was two years old.
Some people just can't help but stand out from a crowd.
Take Council Rock South senior Hope Giordano, for example.
When Giordano tried out for the golf team as a freshman, she definitely drew more than a few stares. But that's bound to happen when you're the only girl competing against more than two dozen boys for a spot on the boys' golf team.
"I'll never forget walking up to the tryouts my freshman year," Giordano said. "All the guys looked at me like I had 20 heads. 'What is a girl doing here?' That was really, really hard for me, especially since I was not the best golfer. I had only started two years before that.
"My dad and I walked up to the putting green at Spring Mill. The coach said, 'You have to play from the guys' tees.' That really scared me because I'd never played from the back tees. It was the scariest thing of my life."
Her coach, Dennis Matika, also has a very clear recollection of that day.
"I'm standing on the putting green and there's 30 guys, seniors through freshmen, and here this girl comes up," the Golden Hawks’ coach said. "That's got to be intimidating and scary.
"You can imagine a ninth grade girl and there's all these guys hanging around. She honestly didn’t really play well that day, but I watched her and I saw her swing, and I was going to keep her no matter what."
It was that swing that first caught the eye of Giordano's father two years earlier. She had been a cheerleader to that point, but numerous aches and pains caused her to look for another sport in which to compete.
Her father suggested she try golf.
"As a cheerleader, I felt like every day, something else hurt," Giordano said. "My dad suggested golf, and he always tells me that the first time he saw me swing a golf club he couldn't believe how natural my swing was.
"Those first two years, seventh and eighth grade, were not easy. Ninth and 10th weren't easy, either. I wasn't serious about it. I wanted to be with my friends all the time. But the last two years I got so serious with it and my game picked up. I love the game now, it's frustrating, but I love it."
Buoyed by the support of her family, coach and teammates, as well as a renewed dedication to the sport, Giordano emerged as one of the top golfers on the Golden Hawks' team. Her scores were constantly used toward team scores during the meet season (in which the Hawks went 3-8 in the Continental League, 3-11 overall). She was named to the First Team All-League Girls Golf Team in each of the past two years. She finished fifth in the first round of the District Regional Qualifier this season and missed Regionals by one stroke. She came in fourth at the 2011 Suburban One Girls Championship and advanced to Districts, where she finished 10th.
"When she was a junior, the one senior I had said to her, 'Next year you're going to be a senior, you're going to have to take over as a leader,'" Matika said. "And she has. It's hard to do when you're in the minority like that. But she wasn't by herself -- she was part of the team. She wanted to be a part of the team, wanted to be a leader."
And she worked to get there. Giordano sacrificed the summer before her senior season and dedicated it almost exclusively to golf. Long hours of practicing and playing in Philadelphia Junior Tournaments helped her take her game to the proverbial next level. It also reinforced the value of never giving up. Following a couple bad outings over the summer, Giordano worked at her game and responded by winning three straight tournaments.
"I played in two events in a row and I did so bad," she said. "I couldn't get my game together, it was really frustrating. I was talking to my dad and I really wanted to quit and give up. But I cut down on my hours at work and I went out for weeks, spending hours on the range or on the putting green with my dad. After working really hard, it paid off and I really felt awesome about winning those three tournaments, because I know that you can't give up, you've just got to keep going. It was really hard, but you have to push yourself."
Mental toughness is a trait that has defined Giordano during her time at Council Rock South, both in her efforts on the course and in dealing with condescending looks or remarks that can come from being the lone female golfer on the squad.
"You play mind games with yourself," she said. "I'm usually really good with that. If I have a bad shot, 'OK, it's done, it's over with.' Now you have to think about how you're going to play the next shot. You just can't let the bad days or bad shots get to you. I never let it get to me. You just brush it off and think positive.
"On the team, I didn’t always feel like I always fit in. But there are always those certain people on the team that were so supportive and so sweet to me, and it was so important to have those people. But on the other hand, having people against me made me a stronger person."
Her improvements over the years and her tireless dedication to the sport have not gone unnoticed. As a sophomore, she was named the Hawks' Most Improved Player. As a senior, she was honored as the Council Rock South golf team's Most Valuable Player.
"One of the things I did at the end-of-year banquet, I emphasized that what made Hope move to the next level was the summer she put in between her junior and senior year," Matika said. "She got out there, she competed, she caddied, she was around the game. She made that commitment. She set that example. I made sure to emphasize that to the team."
That commitment has paid off in another way as well. Next fall, Giordano will head to Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Ga., where she will play on the women's golf team and learn her trade with the aspiration of becoming a high school mathematics teacher.
"Emmanuel is a small school, but they're expanding their sports, expanding the golf program for men and women, they have a new gym and new dorms," said Giordano. "It felt like it was the right decision. I fell in love with the school, the coach is awesome. I feel like I found a good school for myself. And I'm very excited to go to the next level with golf, because I really think I can go far with it."
While honors and awards are truly appreciated and dreams of collegiate success are a strong motivator, they are not what drive Giordano. The game itself -- the challenge, the hard work, the improvements and breakthroughs -- are enough to fuel her passion.
"It's awesome to get all-league and MVP, and I don't think it'd be possible if I didn’t have the support from my family and friends," she said. "Being recognized means a lot to me because it shows how hard I worked for it.
"But I wasn't looking to be recognized. I just play golf, and if people notice that, then that's great. But if they don't notice, that's not going to stop me. Nothing anyone says is going to stop me from playing the game. I love it. I will always stay with it and it's something that will always stay with me."
