High Schools : Despite the Humidity, Giordano Turns On the Heat for Canyon

L.A. Times Archives

May 16, 1997 12 AM PT

Jimmy Giordano of Canyon High, who might be the first enforcer in boys’ volleyball, admits he has a weakness.

Humidity.

Originally from Long Island, N.Y., Giordano still visits the Empire State, but only in short spurts.

“I couldn’t live there,” he said. “It’s too humid. You couldn’t breathe in that stuff.”

Giordano flourishes in other environments, including the volleyball court, where he is the vocal and emotional leader of the Cowboys.

Like any enforcer, the 6-foot-4, 220-pound middle blocker doesn’t care about his appearance when he plays.

With his last name misspelled on the back of his jersey, Giordano screams nonsensical words at opponents and makes it known when he blocks a spike.

“Some people think I yell bad things,” he said. “It’s totally the opposite. The other team might start laughing at me because I sound sort of stupid. You can never go too far.”

Last month, he did and it would have made Dennis Rodman proud.

When the Cowboys, ranked 10th in Southern Section Division I, lost in the quarterfinals of the Tournament of Champions, Giordano threw a ball at the referee. Coach Spencer MacCuish took Giordano outside for several minutes.

“Spencer was disappointed in me,” Giordano said. “I didn’t realize until after that game that I was one of the leaders [of the team].”

Giordano, a junior, has played the past two years with a slight tear in the anterior cruciate ligament of his right knee. He injured it during soccer and likely will undergo surgery during the summer. But until then. . . .

“Sometimes I’ll go up for a hit and my knee will go out,” he said. “You can hear the bones crunching. It’s pretty gross.”

Like a hot August day in New York.