The “Happiest Place On Earth” has long been that for Gianna Guinasso, who grew up 30 minutes away from Disneyland in Huntington Beach, Calif. She modeled princess outfits for the Disney catalogue, her grandfather built the Coca-Cola storefront on Main Street and her grandmother worked at the theme park for a while.
Guinasso even had her own annual pass where, early on, she fell in love with the idea of working for the Disney corporation. Fantasyland met Tomorrowland when planning the future and how, after receiving her business marketing degree, she hoped to be accepted into the Disney World College Program as a paid intern.
That was the dream, beginning in sixth grade, one that joined Guinasso’s other Fantasyland-Tomorrowland combo: playing volleyball for Hawaii. However, the 5-foot-9 defensive specialist’s Rainbow Wahine career has been anything but a fairy tale, seeing limited action the past three seasons.
It was enough to have the AAU beach champion and all-league indoor selection at Huntington Beach High thinking about walking away from the sport. There were long talks with her dad, Angelo, a former AVP pro who coached “Baby G” on the beach and in club.
“He’d ask, ‘Is this what you love?’ ” Gianna Guinasso said. “For a while it was, ‘I don’t think I love it anymore.’ Then there’d be moments of ‘No, I do.’
“And then when Robyn (first-year head coach Ah Mow-Santos) came back in spring, she sat down with everyone individually. She brought the love of the game back to me. Seeing her passion, realizing that you’re here for a reason, I realized that I have to finish what I started.”
Guinasso found a confidence that was on display last Sunday against then-No. 22 Utah, where she served for eight points in Set 1, bringing Hawaii back from a 19-15 deficit into a 23-19 lead. Her flat line drives, targeting specific areas, kept the Utes out of system with the serving run capped by an ace as the Wahine went on to win 25-20.
It nearly happened again at the end of Set 4 as Guinasso served the Wahine to within 22-21. Hawaii fell short, 25-23.
“I think it’s her confidence level,” Ah Mow-Santos said of the difference she has seen in Guinasso since her freshman year. “She stepped it up during those two weeks in spring, brought the attitude I wanted. Told her to give me more pop on the serve, hit this spot, hit that spot. It was, ‘OK, coach.’
“We’re looking for someone who can come in and serve, dig some balls and play defense. That’s what she’s been doing.”
“Sometimes, it’s not always about living the drawn-up plan,” Angelo Guinasso said. “I’ve told her that she is a bigger part of a team than what the stats say.”
Something clicked with his daughter last spring. It helped that the other returning seniors said they wanted to have senior night with her, including her best friend and teammate of the past nine years Kendra Koelsch, also from Huntington Beach.
“It hit me, I need to stay,” she said. “Any time I have gone home, random people will say, ‘OMG, you play for Hawaii.’
“There is no better place to end your career where you feel you’re a mini-Olympian or a superstar.”
Guinasso again plans to play beach in spring, graduate in May and apply for the Disney World College Program. In true Disney fashion, expectations are for that happy ending.
