Senior gymnast Nicole Giao started doing gymnastics at such a young age that she doesn’t even remember why she started in the first place, but she does know why she has stuck with it for so long.

“The more involved I got, the more into it I got, so I just stayed with it the whole time,” Giao said.

After being involved with gymnastics for so long, Giao’s focus turned to making it in college athletics.

“That had always been like my major goal?you go through the years of club gymnastics for a reason?college was definitely my goal,” Giao said.

After Giao graduates from school, she has many plans that she would like to pursue involving her education and her life.

“I’m planning on taking a year off before I go back to school, but I am definitely going to try and apply into some kind of counseling program at UCLA? there are a lot of things I want to try,” Giao said.

Giao, like most other gymnasts, has constantly been plagued by injury throughout her career. Like Giao, other athletes consistently compete with injuries and she is used to competing through pain.

“It’s just the love of the sport. You love what you do and you love the constant challenges,” Giao said.

Last year, Giao missed four meets due to an ankle injury and during this year’s preseason, she struggled to regain her strength.

“The injury that I had last year was from a sprained ankle. That didn’t affect this (year’s meets) too much, what really affected me was that I had fallen on my head, so obviously neck problems,” Giao said.

Despite injury, Giao did not let that stop her from achieving her goals.

“I stayed motivated and hardworking. I worked to get back where everyone else was and I did it in a decent amount of time so I think I pretty much did what I wanted to accomplish,” Giao said.

Giao is known for having a unique personality and a unique sense of style as well.

Senior Melissa Genovese loves the unique personality that Giao possesses.

“She is like rocker-status. She likes to go to concerts and stuff and she has her little rock star hairdo,” Genovese said.

Coach Kim Hughes knows that Giao has a unique personality, but said she possesses other qualities that make her special.

“Nicole is a strong, quiet person in both her personality and training in gymnastics demeanor. She is very steady?she takes care of herself. She is a good student, and she is disciplined. She has all those positive qualities,” Hughes said.

Even Hughes understands Giao’s rocker personality.

“She knows what gymnastic tradition is. She takes it to the edge but is always respectful of it. She is respectful of the sport with a little tweak?of that rockstar image,” Hughes said.

Giao said she likes a variety of music but does have a few favorite bands and genres.

“It’s hard to pinpoint a favorite because I like a lot of stuff?I love AFI; I love Tiger Army. I also like a lot of hardcore music and a lot of alternative,” Giao said.

Although finding free time during gymnastics season is difficult, Giao enjoys going to concerts and shows whenever she can.

Giao’s boyfriend, Joey Cunha, is also a very big part of her life and music is important to him as well.

As a member of a band, Giao enjoys watching her boyfriend practice, and she even participates.

“He keeps a guitar at my house so he is always practicing and he writes a lot so I help him with his writing, so it’s fun,” Giao said.

Cunha can be found at every home meet cheering her on during each event.

“It’s really nice to know that someone loves me enough to come support me that much and he is always very vocal and very animated in the crowd, so it’s really nice to know that he is there for me,” Giao said.

Cunha enjoys the time he spends cheering on Giao and the rest of the team.

“It’s awesome. Any time you can watch girls jump around in leotards is fun,” Cunha said.

Genovese knows Giao is appreciative of all the support Cunha provides for her.

“He loves her to death. If you see him in the stands, he is so into all her routines. I think it is just a big support system for her and I know it helps her out mentally,” Genovese said.

Cunha also enjoys the relationships he has built with the rest of the women on the team.

“When I was in a band she came to shows and brought some of her teammates, so I have developed an emotional connection with the girls,” Cunha said.

As gymnastics captains, the women are taught to lead their team by example. For some, that might be difficult when plagued by frequent injuries, but for Giao it does not interfere with her responsibilities as captain.

“I think that even though I am injured, I feel that I am leading by example. Showing the team that you can overcome adversity and you can get back into it after injury,” Giao said.

Genovese knows it has been a struggle for Giao to get back to her normal capabilities.

“It was definitely difficult but she still did an amazing job. She did everything she could even when she couldn’t practice,” Genovese said.

Hughes also said despite nagging injuries, Giao was able to show her true leadership skills.

“That’s probably her biggest issue is the frustration she’s had to endure for four years being injured every year?she tries not to let it show in practice and she has done a good job for us for four years,” Hughes said.

Cunha said Giao’s hardworking personality pays off when it comes to being a captain.

“She always strives to better herself. She is a really strong, good gymnast and I think they look up to her,” Cunha said.

Sophomore Lissa Zamolo is a close teammate and friend of Giao’s.

“We like the same music, so that’s where it started. She would give me bands to look up and I went with her to concerts? I think that’s the unique thing about her,” Zamolo said.

“She is really hardworking and really motivated in gymnastics. That’s one of the things I strive for and she’s really helpful for me. She was really helpful and one of my mentors,” Zamolo said.

Genovese finds it easy to get along with Giao as a teammate and a friend.

“She is really easy to get along with; she is a really good teammate and she always works really hard in everything she does in life? she gets along with everyone,” Genovese said.

No matter what Giao does, she has been able to stick to her roots and she isn’t one to change for others. Zamolo admires these qualities of Giao’s.

“That’s something that made me look up to her, like how different she was. She didn’t care that people didn’t like this music, it was her music and she never changed that. She is very loyal to what she likes,” Zamolo said.

Alicia de la Garza can be reached at [email protected]