profile: davide gardini
For Davide Gardini, volleyball runs in his family. Gardini’s mother, Novella, played volleyball on the Italian National Team and his older sister, Serena, was also an avid volleyball player. His father, Andrea, is a well-known name in the volleyball world. Andrea won the FIVB (Federation of International Volleyball) World Championships three times and is a three-time Olympian. He was also a member of the FIVB-crowned "Best Volleyball Team of the 20th Century” and was inducted into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2007. Andrea currently coaches Klub Jastrzębski Węgiel — a professional men's volleyball team based in Poland.
Gardini wears a necklace as motivation and to remind him of his family. On his necklace, there is a letter ‘A’ for his father, Andrea and an ’N’ for his mother, Novella. The number ‘1’ was his father's National Team jersey number, and ‘3’ his mother’s National Team jersey number. Putting those two numbers together, ’13’ has become their “family number”. Because of this, Gardini’s jersey number is ‘1’ and his sister, Serena, wears ’13’.
"I was always around volleyball and spent a lot of time in different cities in Italy. Wherever, my dad was playing we'd stay there. And then we traveled a little bit wherever he was playing,” said Gardini.
Gardini was only five years old when his father retired from playing professional volleyball, so he doesn’t remember seeing his dad play a lot, but still has memories of growing up in a volleyball family.
“When you're a kid, watching a sport, even if you don't understand anything, it helps your [sport] development. But, I don’t have a clear image of my dad playing and seeing him on the court,” said Gardini.
Even with his parent’s accomplishments, Gardini never felt pressured to play volleyball. In fact, Gardini played soccer, a major youth sport in Italy, for eight years since there weren’t as many competitive opportunities to participate in volleyball at a young age. When he was 14, he started to play volleyball in his hometown of Ravenna, Italy. After just one season, Gardini was recruited to play in Rome with Club Italia, where he played from 2014-2018
“When I was playing soccer, everybody was like making fun of [my dad]. And said things like, ‘Why is he playing soccer? Why is he not playing volleyball?’ And he's always been like, ‘Whatever he wants to do, as long as he's playing a sport, that’s good enough for me.’ So, he allowed me to do whatever I wanted,” Gardini said of his father’s support.
Throughout Gardini’s volleyball career, his father has always been respectful of his volleyball career, coaches, teams, and training.
“[Dad has] always been on the side of, ‘You have a coach. So, I don't want to tell you anything else. Your coach is your coach. I’m just, your dad’,” Gardini said of his father.
After his freshman year at BYU, Gardini began reaching out to others to learn more about school, business, and volleyball. It was then that Gardini truly started to see the incomparable value of his father’s experience in the sport.
“I started thinking, ‘I have my dad, who is a three-time Olympian, and I’ve never talked to him much.’ We talk about volleyball, but I never talk to him like, ‘I’m struggling with this. What would you do in this situation?’”
Now, Gardini and his father hop on zoom calls, they review his VolleyMetrics, and watch film together.
Although Davide was on the Italian National Team (VNL) last summer, he made the decision to come back to play his senior year at BYU. Gardini talked with the people he trusts — members of his family, BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead, and Athletics Director Brian Santiago — to help make the decision to come back. He decided that staying at BYU had more pros than cons: he could finish school and graduate, develop connections for after his volleyball career, provide leadership on the team, and become an overall better player.
“I came back so I could experience leadership a little more. I was gonna have a bigger role attacking. Last year, I had a big role in it, but it was a lot of of those tough moments or highballs would go to Gabi [Garcia Fernandez]. I knew I needed to grow in that part of my game,” said Gardini of his decision to return.
Coming back for another season allowed Gardini to have more attempts, experience positive pressure, and develop leadership skills to help him become an even better player.
As a four year starter and captain of the BYU Men’s Volleyball team, Gardini has played in 324 sets. In 2019, Gardini was named MPSF Freshman of the year in 2019, 2019 ALL-MPSF Second Team, and 2019 ALL-MPSF Second Team. In 2020 and 2021, he was named to the All MPSF First Team and AVCA All-America First Team. In his time at BYU, Gardini has recorded 1,155 kills, 221 blocks, and 109 aces. In 2020, Gardini helped lead the Cougars to a final season ranking of #1 and helped lead the team to the 2021 National Championship. During his final game in the Smith Fieldhouse, he recorded a new career high of 30 kills on senior night against #1 ranked UCLA.
"He's shown a lot of big time leadership this season," said Shawn Olmstead, Men’s Volleyball Head Coach of Gardini. "He's carrying a heavy load as one of the veterans on the team and he's doing very well with it. We ask and expect a lot from him, but he never shies away or backs down from those expectations.”
Gardini will finish his BYU career this month, and will certainly leave his mark as one of the best players in BYU Mens’ Volleyball history.