Photo credit: Luis Garcia Rodriguez
After chatting with Lydia Giomi about her life as a professional basketball player for Ensino, in Lugo, Spain, and diving into her past as a high school and college athlete, I was surprised to hear that she had often struggled with self-confidence. Having coached Lydia in high school, I know that her basketball skills, as well as her positive attitude, were an integral part of West Seattle’s success, yet throughout most of Lydia’s lifetime she didn’t always feel that she belonged on the court. I’m excited to share more about Lydia’s journey and how her time in Spain has helped her to find balance and build confidence, both on and off the court.
Lydia has been playing professional basketball in Spain for four years. Before playing overseas, she played for the University of Oregon where she was part of three straight Pac-12 regular-season championship teams, and two Pac-12 Tournament Championship teams. She finished her Oregon career with 259 total points (Career shooting percentage 57.9%), 125 rebounds, 29 blocks, 24 steals and 21 assists, helping Oregon to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including the program’s first-ever Final Four in 2019. She also won a USA Basketball 3×3 National Title in 2019, playing with Sabrina Ionescu, Ruthy Hebard and Oti Gildon.
At West Seattle High School Lydia was a Two-Time Metro League MVP. During her senior year she averaged 15.2 points, 12.8 rebounds, 2.0 blocks, 2.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game and was named to the All-State team. As a junior she averaged 14.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 3 blocks per contest and was named to the 2015 Seattle Times All-Star team and the All-State team. She helped West Seattle go undefeated in league, win the Metro League Tournament Title and go on to place 5th in state. Lydia graduated with a Masters in Education from the University of Oregon.
Lydia, what advice would you give to young athletes?
Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. [That being said], I don’t want people to think you should be in the gym 24/7, I have never been that player. But when you are there, you give it your all. You buy in 100%. If this is a core value of yours, the right people will see that, and doors will open.
Also, capitalize on what you can do. It might not always be points on the floor, it might be setting good screens, maybe it’s cheering on your teammates. I remember when I first started playing AAU, I felt that I was awful compared to all of the other players, I was like, I’m not good enough to be on this serious AAU team. … but when [coach] had us run lines at the beginning of every practice… I remember thinking, I don’t think I’m great at this sport, but I know how to run lines, so I’m going to be the first person that touches that baseline every single time. Sure enough, that small thing [capitalizing on what I could do], has taken me far into my professional career. What can you do? Even if you’re not the best player, you can find things that you are best at on the court, and be the best at those things. People will see that you’re trying and they will believe in you and that will provide you with opportunities.
What about young athletes wanting to play professionally?
I would tell them if you really want this, stick with it. I am living proof that you can not play a whole lot in college, suffer numerous injuries, and still go on to have an amazing professional career. I think a lot of college athletes get discouraged if they have a hard college career, or experience, and just assume they won’t like playing pro or won’t be good at it. But there are a lot of countries, levels, and teams with opportunities. I think people are also sometimes deterred by the idea of playing overseas. Yes, it can be super scary, but studies show that moving to a foreign country is one of the best ways to change and mold and grow your brain. Growth is good, learning is good! No matter what you do, if you get the chance to live in a foreign country for any period of time, do it!
How did you end up playing overseas?
I came out of college with not a whole lot of stats, and wanted to get my foot into the Spanish league, so I signed with the first league that would take a chance on me. And once I had a year under my belt and people knew that I was here and I could play in this league, I could make more decisions from there.
Let’s talk about transitions…
The transitions between high school and college and college to my first year as a pro were absolutely brutal.
First, how was your transition from high school to college…
If I had been just a student [and not a student-athlete], I would have lived at home and gone to a college nearby. I was definitely more of a homebody. I loved home. I have younger siblings and I felt like I was the first one leaving the party. We all had this great system going for 18 years. I’m happy, they’re happy…and now I’m the one who’s kicked out. That didn’t make any sense. [Leaving] was a terrible experience. I think it’s an older sibling experience. You leave every party first. You pave the way for others, and show them how to do it. And it’s awful.
You’re so young…and all of a sudden become an adult…I look at all the kids today that are in college and they have such a platform. I look at Caitlin Clark now, and think [back to when I was in college]. It was really hard on Sabrina [Ioanescu-New York Liberty] with all of the pressure and the experiences that she went through…it’s just a tough time. And [college] is a big commitment. With a scholarship you buy in for four years, which is really great and I respect that, but you have classes and other things that are on the line, where now, as a professional I just play for me and my team. I’m my own boss. I get to make my own decisions and have freedom of movement. And, if it’s not suiting me in this situation, worst case scenario, I leave. So, it’s very different.
And how was your transition from college to professional…
The college to pro transition was much better [than high school to college]. Still hard, but in very different ways. Adjusting to a new culture is hard for sure, and learning how to work with different people who speak a different language, and how to advocate for yourself is a lot of work. One of my friends who played overseas said that at about year three you stop crying, and she was right. And, I mean this last year was great, but it took a while.
And in a way, playing overseas is super freeing. No one really knows you or cares about you. Your friends and family back home don’t know anything other than you live overseas and there’s a lot less pressure in some ways. I also feel fortunate to be in Spain. While they care a lot about basketball and winning and it’s one of the best leagues in Europe, they’re much more laid back as people, which has been really good for me personally. Even after losses my coach will yell and scream at us and then say okay, now go have a drink with friends and be ready to practice on Monday. Which is so different from the American mentality which is all about the grind. I feel like I’ve finally found a place where the basketball culture has more of a balance.
Do you have any suggestions for times when things don’t go right on the court?
This will happen more frequently than not. I try really hard to set goals before my game that are process oriented. So, when things aren’t going my way, I can still walk away saying, I met my goals. You also learn to adjust with teammates, if your teammate gets going during a game, and you’re struggling, learn to recognize and play to the strengths of the team in the moment.
What have been your greatest challenges and how have you worked through them?
Gosh too many to count! Tons of injuries, broken bones, surgeries, illnesses, dealing with not playing and the identity crisis that comes with that, bad coaches, difficult clubs, I’ve seen a lot of it by now. Not to mention just the challenges that come up in day-to-day life without being an athlete.
In my personal experience, I can trace a lot of these challenges back to a very root problem which has been a lack of self-belief. I’m not sure where it came from, but if you asked me to tell you the things I’m good at, or best at, up until recently that answer wouldn’t have included basketball. Which is insane to think about now because I’ve held my own in one of the best leagues in the world for the last four years. I’m a big believer in the mind-body connection, at least in myself. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the times in my life when I was questioning myself most, or disliked myself the most, is when injury and challenge came along. I look at those times in my life now and I am filled with so much pride over how far I’ve come.
How did I get over [my lack of self-belief]? I’ve kept playing. Sounds crazy to say but my basketball identity was in a difficult space when I finished college, yet I signed up to continue playing. I very easily could have walked away from the sport and never touched a basketball again. But I think it would’ve left me bitter, and I never would’ve recovered that self-confidence. I also started to see a sports therapist when I got overseas…and working with her has been really helpful across all aspects of my life.
And, I’ve come to learn that depression, I mean in the sense of a changing seasons, is a natural part of life. Some days and months are better than others. Some seasons are better than others, but no one season, or day, or practice is reflective of who you are. Both the good and the bad. One of the best lessons playing overseas has really taught me is to remain in a more neutral zone. The highs can be so high, and the lows so low, so I try my hardest to stay in the middle and not let either up or down be my defining factor.
Tell me more about your injuries.
I had tons of injuries. So many. In high school I had injuries, that when I look back at them now, in comparison to my college experience, they weren’t really injuries. Then during my freshman year of college, I broke my right hand in practice. Fortunately, I was able to redshirt that year. My right hand healed and is still fantastic, so, I played sophomore year… and then first round of the Pac12 Tourney March of 2018 in Seattle, I went into the game and in the first couple minutes, I tore the Lisfranc ligament in my left foot. It’s a pretty common injury…but it’s a pretty long recovery.
[My fracture happened] in March and I was cleared to play at the end of October or maybe early November. I had 3 screws and a plate put in my foot and then later had them taken out for foot mobility. So, it was a double surgery injury. And then during that time I was actually racing to Spanish class on my foot scooter…this didn’t happen playing basketball…I was racing to Spanish, and I had my backpack on, and I just hit a bump in the road and went over the handlebars of my scooter, and I hit my chin directly on the cement. I mean I have a broken foot, and I split my chin in three places. I split it on both sides of my jaw and then right down the middle, I mean truly through the middle teeth, they split immediately. I had to go right in for surgery. I still have two metal plates in my chin. And then I had to have my jaw bandaged shut for 6 weeks. So, I was doing nothing. It was so awful. I had my foot in a cast and couldn’t walk and had my jaw bandaged shut, so you’re thankful for every moment that you can walk after that, and move, and eat. It was brutal. Since that, I‘ve been pretty injury free. I still have some issues with my foot…but I have a good ice/heat/ibuprofen system going. So, life is going great.
As I mentioned, I’m a big believer in mind-body connection. Most of my injuries came at times in my life when I was really struggling…the actual challenge has been self-confidence. And I can pin point to the week and to the day what my thoughts were in those time periods where those injuries happened. It was dark. I was truly in a really low place. And obviously I didn’t want to be injured but I do think there is something to be said about the energy that you attract into your life and the thoughts and the feelings that I was having about myself, and what I was attracting in my world, was not good. People wonder about overcoming injuries, but the real issue was I didn’t have self-confidence, the root issue was that I didn’t have a strong sense of self, didn’t believe in myself. I agree that life comes with freak accidents, I’ve had those experiences too, but for me in my personal experience, I think that I have to take some responsibility for that [time period], and the thoughts that I was having in my life. I don’t think that way anymore.
How did you move out of that dark space?
Honestly, I’m not totally sure. I think a big part of it is the people I surrounded myself with. I love my teammates. In college they were super helpful in getting me through that time. [Also, I found] different ways to view my identity, and other ways that I could be valuable on a team. If it’s not in points or on the court, how else can I contribute? Where else do I have value? I also threw myself into school, which became a huge part of my finding my identity too.
And as I mentioned, strangely enough, I made the decision to keep playing basketball. Which is crazy, because at the end of my college career, I was pretty done with it. Still, I had always wanted to play overseas…and deep inside I thought my time at U of O might not be a reflection of how good of a player I actually am. And it’s not to say I deserved anything else at Oregon. I played with amazing players who deserved to be on the court as much as they were. They are fantastic WNBA players right now. But it wasn’t a reflection of how bad I was.
And would I change my experience at Oregon for anything? Absolutely not. Could things have been different? For sure they could always be different, but I gained a ton from them and that experience. I made some of the most incredible friends that I will ever have in my life and learned how valuable those friendships are. I learned what it’s like to be on a team…and how rare it is in life to have that kind of bond with your teammates…you become family.
I also had this kind of feeling that if I leave this right now, I will never touch another basketball again and it will leave a bitter taste in my mouth. And holy guacamole, I was right. I’m glad I stuck with it. Now I believe I’m a good player…now I can go on the rest of my life and think, I want to be a part of basketball in whatever community I go to next. I want to encourage people, and young women, to be a part of the basketball world.
What are your thoughts on AAU?
I played AAU for 4 years total, but I really only count the last 2 years…[when] I played on an EYBL Nike elite basketball league team. I guess the exposure to colleges was good, but the thing that was probably the most useful for me, because you can get exposure in different ways…was to play against some really good competition. It almost seems like a necessary evil…but I do have teammates who didn’t play on AAU teams and ended up at Oregon and played pro basketball, so I don’t think there is any one way to do it.
What are the challenges of being a woman in sports.
Oh gosh, so, so many. I don’t even know where to begin. And there are probably even a bunch that I’m not conscious of. Which is the crazy part. Yes, there are the surface things at least overseas as a pro. Men have been in completely different gyms, nice arenas, and we are in a high school type gymnasium…and in the winter time my first year, if the men had practice during the day the heat would be on, but if the men did not have practice, the heat did not come on…I thought that was shocking.
Gear has always been a thing, but at U of O [University of Oregon], they did a pretty good job. We got a lot of gear…but a lot of it was men’s gear. It wasn’t built for a woman’s body. I think that’s better now. Now a woman’s Nike shoe exist. But the gear that we would get was mostly mens. I think volleyball is looked at as a female dominate sport, so our female volleyball players would get feminine clothes, and women’s shorts, but since we were basketball players, we would get men’s clothes.
One of the issues that I’ve often experienced [as a woman] now, is not being treated like an adult. Maybe it’s because we don’t get paid as much, or whatever it is I’m not sure, but particularly in situations with male coaches, there’s definitely an air of a power structure there, and sometimes in order to survive you play into it. I thought when I moved to Spain, that sexism would be different…disappear. Because they have extended maternity and paternity leave, and different systems in place [for equality], then I got here and see that there are also issues here when it comes to the balance between the female and male experience.
I could go on forever.
As a woman athlete in the 80’s, I saw a lot of discrepancies between men’s and women’s athletics, and also when I was coaching years later, but it’s not always easy to make changes happen.
Yes, sometimes you see women…fighting for something, and I have an instinct in me to say, just be happy with what you have, and make it work. [As women] we’re conditioned to believe that we’re just supposed to make it work. Think of how many times someone has to take that risk, to speak up for their rights, for something to happen. For the 50 times someone takes a risk, it’s that 51 that actually makes a breakthrough. Many others have suffered for it, but it needs to happen….to move the needle.
I’ve been fortunate to be able watch that needle move. When I was playing in college, there were still states where girls played the half-court 6-on-6 game. (Oklahoma was the last state to go to the full court 5-on-5 game in 1995) When I was playing, we also got a women’s ball and the 3-point line. And I’d forgotten until this year, that we didn’t get to use the 3-point line shot for our NCAA tournament game, because it had just been introduced on an experimental basis during the season.
I was reminded recently that the women’s tourney didn’t have the legal rights to use the March Madness brand until just recently which is crazy. So, the entire time that I was at U of O, we weren’t using the March Madness brand. How is that possible?
We could talk about this stuff all day…but let’s move on. What does a day-in-the-life look like for you?
I like this question because I think my social media sometimes confuses people as to what my life is really like. I do work. We practice a ton. Some weeks are more intense than others, and the load changes throughout the season. For example, August through December, we pretty consistently practice twice a day, play games on Saturday, and have an off day on Sunday. The second half of the season usually relaxes a little bit based on where the team is ranked. Spain has relegation (The Spanish league has two divisions. The bottom two placed teams at the end of the season in the upper division move down, and the top two teams in the lower division move up), so if a club has won lots of games during the first half of the season, they relax a little more come January/February. I sometimes have weeks where all I do is eat, sleep, basketball. A good portion of the year I am covered in bruises and I can hardly walk. But then on my off days, I go outside my door and I’m in Europe, so I really capitalize on that.
My life is truly great. It’s a lovely lifestyle for a lot of reasons…but not a whole lot of income. My happiness threshold is super high, super fulfilling. But I do work very hard, very frequently.
So, a day in the life…during the busy part of the season…Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday I work out twice a day and then once on Wednesday. Games are Saturday and then I have Sunday off. I wake up around 10am, because that’s the Spanish lifestyle. Then I have a big breakfast and get to the gym. In the morning, I lift, shoot, run drills and run. Then I go home for lunch, maybe nap, read or crochet, some non-screen activity…maybe go to the store. Then I eat a snack and head back to the gym. I have practice from 7pm to 9pm and then go home and make a big dinner. Then around that time, everyone in my life back in the United States wakes up… mom wants to talk on the phone and then someone else wants to talk…and so I spend my evenings eating dinner and catching up. Then I go to bed and do it all over again. That’s a pretty standard day.
It’s definitely a lot…your body hurts and your tired all the time. And I eat so much food. I get so tired of making so much food for myself…I think people don’t know…how hard it can be. People might think, you didn’t do anything today. And I think, that is critical to my job, that I did nothing, that I took that nap. My job is to fuel myself and sleep enough. But the second half of the season is definitely different.
Favorite things to do…
I have loved living overseas by myself because I have so much alone time to just figure out what I do like to do, and what is interesting to me. And one of things I love about being in Spain is the food. Like, what do I want to eat today? Growing up in a house with six people, it was not really a question. Now I can eat whatever I want. And Spain is a real foodie culture…so much of the way that Spaniards relate to one another, and socialize with one another, is over food. And if you are willing to eat foods and try new things and be a bit adventurous, they will absolutely love you. And I love to eat! Which is fitting because my job is to run. So, it works out just fine. I also like to travel and speak with people in a foreign language. And I’ve taken up crochet this season.
Favorite TV shows…
I don’t watch very much tv, but I guess my favorite would be Ted Lasso, because there are just so many lovely metaphors in it for sports. And I also love the Derry Girls. I’m more of a funny-show girl. I also love a historical fiction, like Downton Abbey…I love Downton Abbey. And I’m watching The Gentleman right now. I tend to like mobster-mafia movies too.
Favorite books…
I will read almost anything. Overseas I have been blowing through books. I’m a huge fantasy reader…of course there’s A Court of Thorns and Roses series, A Discovery of Witches, Queen of the Tearling, The Wheel of Time series. I also love historical fiction and I try to read a non-fiction book once every couple of months, something that might expand my brain a little, rather than just reading “potato chip” books…”potato chip” books, because you consume them so quickly and they taste fantastic while it’s happening and afterwards you’re like, I don’t know if that was so great.
Do you get homesick?
I go back and forth. I get homesick for people for sure. Especially for Marcella, my little sister, she’s 18, so missing her high school experience has been really hard. My brothers are older and off doing their own thing and don’t really care about seeing their big sister all the time, but not being there while Marcella grows up has been probably the hardest part.
But I love it here. I absolutely love it. My adult life has been lived here. Which is crazy. How lucky am I to have two places I call home. This time of year, I always start to get really sad that it’s coming to an end. I mean, I’ll have another season and it’ll be great, and there will be other years, but you never get this one back. It’s just a really lovely feeling [with this team]. I always end up crying a lot because I don’t want to leave Spain. I think, how can I stay here and make this part of my life last forever. But then I go to Seattle in the summer time and I cry because I have to go back to Spain.
Do you speak Spanish?
I do. I took Spanish in high school and in college. Sometimes I feel like I don’t speak the language, but I do. My whole experience here is in Spanish.
Do you have Spanish citizenship?
I’m so close. I applied for citizenship through residency. I had to work and live here for an entire year, which has actually been 3 years now, because of…well, we’re on Spanish time. I have a couple of tests still to take but I’m really hoping that I’ll have it before I start my next season.
Do you think you’ll be in Spain again next year?
It’s too soon to know, but I really love it here. This town and where I’m at right now has been so good to me. I can’t even begin to explain.
What is it that you love about basketball?
This answer has continued to change throughout my life. During high school basketball gave me a sense of belonging as well as empowerment….in college basketball opened a lot of doors for me…I got to play, and learn from the best of the best, who also became my closest friends…these are your people for life. Overseas [it has been] a culmination of all of it! The places it has taken me, and the people and experiences. The freedom to just play without a care in the world…the empowerment and the meditative space…the space to learn who I am.
Photos: Carlos Maira Teijeiro
