Athlete of the Week: Margherita Giani

Margherita Giani, a UTRGV Volleyball junior middle blocker, is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in political science, with a minor in international business. A native of Maissana, Italy, Giani enjoys spending time with her family and friends when she is visiting Italy.

Q: What do you do for fun outside of volleyball?

A: “I’m from Italy, so for fun when I arrive in Italy I would go to the sea, hang out with my friends or play with my dog, just enjoy my time with my family and my boyfriend.”

Q: What movies or shows do you like?

A: “I like this TV show, it’s a new TV show from Netflix, ‘Painkiller.’ It was really interesting. … I just like documentaries in general, like, real stories. I really like ‘Friends.’”

Q: What kind of music do you like?

A: “Every type of music, Italian, rap, trap, rock. Italian singer Ultimo, I really like him. I went to a couple of his concerts. It was really fun.”

Q: Who is one of your role models?

A: “I would say my mom, because she is really strong and I just love her so much. She taught me a lot. She’s really strong, works hard. And my dad, too. Just my parents.”

Q: What motivates you?

A: “I really like volleyball, so I started playing when I was 7 years old. I just love playing volleyball. I just really want to compete and I win. So every time I step in the gym, I think about the game, the matchup we’re going to have and, like, how much we want to get another ring.”

Q: Would you want to keep playing volleyball or do something with political science?

A:. “I think I want to keep playing volleyball, maybe, like, [professionally] back in Italy. I would see. I still don’t know. Of course, I want to keep starting something, political science maybe. Right now, it’s very broad, so I want to specialize in something and I want to get a master’s, but I don’t know in what yet.”

Q: What do you like about UTRGV and the Rio Grande Valley?

A: “I like the culture, the school, professors, coaches, my teammates. I just love that it’s very diverse. I love Mexican culture. I think it’s very similar to Italian culture. I just think everyone here is very welcoming. I really like the community and everything. I like the people, the weather. In Italy, we have four seasons, so sometimes it’s really cold. But here it’s always very hot. I just like it. The campus, it’s pretty. It’s nice.”

Q: What high school did you go to?

A: “I went to six different high schools, because in Italy, whenever you play volleyball, you have to go far away from your house, usually because we play kind of like a club. So, you have to go there and change your high school. I mean, not all the people do it, but most of the people have to go there and change. You don’t have to do it every year, but it just so happened to be every year. It was hard, but I managed to graduate. I moved a lot in the north part of Italy. … I transferred from Southern Illinois University last year, so this is my second year at UTRGV.”

Q: Do you have a fun fact about yourself?

A: “I get really mad when people don’t cook Italian food in the proper way. Like, my teammates, they know. They will do something, like, ‘No. You can’t do that. You can’t break the spaghetti,’ or something like that.”

–Compiled by Jose Medina