In some ways, UCLA senior forward Christina DiMartino is a human paradox.
She is a true New Yorker who currently lives, goes to school, and plays soccer in California.
For years she absolutely refused to allow her roommates to get any pets, especially a dog. A few weeks ago, she adopted a dog for the apartment under her own name.
And she stands a mere 5 feet 2 inches, but her presence on the soccer field is much greater.
Perhaps her teammate and fellow captain McCall Zerboni described her best:
“She’s got a big bite for her little size.”
Family first
Despite the dichotomies, there is at least one thing that is totally a constant in DiMartino’s life: her family.
“I have three younger sisters and an older brother,” DiMartino said. “I was kind of raised where family was our center value. I grew up playing soccer in the backyard with my sister and my brother and the neighborhood kids.”
That neighborhood was a suburb of New York City called Massapequa, where DiMartino grew up under the roof of a firefighter father, alongside four siblings and on a block with tons of other kids she could play kickball with.
“When I was little I was the center of attention, very loud, outgoing,” DiMartino said. “As I got older, I calmed down. I was a very competitive person; I’ve always been.”
Along with soccer, DiMartino experimented with basketball, dance and cheerleading, but it was the kickball that brought out that competitive fire she still holds.
“I hated to lose,” she said. “I was a sore loser, a big sore loser. I’d get very upset and storm off if we didn’t win.”
But when it came down to it, the most important time was time spent with family. Both her parents felt that family was of the utmost importance, and they instilled that in their kids.
And even now, with so little free time, DiMartino hasn’t forgotten.
“My parents grew up with large families, so I’m very close to my cousins, aunts and uncles,” DiMartino said. “We always have family dinners when we’re home. Every night when there is a family dinner, we must sit at the kitchen table and eat as a family. We do stuff, we go on bike rides and I take walks with my parents when I’m home.”
It only makes sense, then, that DiMartino and her siblings seem to take after one another. Her older brother Daniel played basketball in college. Her oldest sister Gina, 20, is a junior playing soccer for Boston College and is playing in the U-20 World Cup. Victoria, 17, will be in New Zealand playing for the U-17 National Team. And to round things out, the youngest DiMartino, 13-year-old Jaclyn, has made the regional team and is participating in U.S. National Team camps.
When she talks about her brother and sisters and all their success, DiMartino is all smiles and speaks simply.
“I’m just very proud of them,” she said.
NYC to L.A.
DiMartino’s biggest constant in life, however, also contributes to one of her biggest conflicts. Her deep-seated connection to her family and home in New York is a sort of double-edged sword.
Her choice to come to UCLA was purposeful and voluntary. She wanted to experience something totally new, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t miss the old.
“I’m a true New Yorker,” DiMartino said. “I love New York. I mean, California’s an awesome place and I love it, but I can’t wait to go back to New York and live there. I love the four seasons. I know that there’s the beach and sun, but I do miss the fall; it’s my favorite season. But if anyone hasn’t been to New York, they have to go. It’s one of the greatest places, I think.”
And it appears no one is going to argue about DiMartino’s origin. Zerboni knows exactly where her co-captain’s heart remains.
“She brings so much character to our team,” Zerboni said of DiMartino. “She’s so New York. If you’ve ever talked to her, she’s such a New York girl and brings a lot of life and diversity to our team.”
Exactly what makes her “so New York” is hard for people to define. DiMartino struggles because she’s not conscious of it, and her teammates struggle because there are too many examples to count.
“Maybe it’s my personality,” DiMartino said. “I guess I’m competitive; I don’t really know why they think I’m from New York. I’m very quiet, and I’ll say what I have to say when necessary. I don’t talk for no reason. I don’t mind confronting people; I’m not afraid of it in that sense. I’m not afraid to voice my opinion.
“I guess I’m in my own world. I bring New York here, with the way I act, how I dress, or my mannerisms.”
What DiMartino does know, however, is that she misses the food, the changing seasons, and the white Christmas.
But what she misses most is family.
“I think it’s just hard when I just come back here, knowing it will be two or three months before I see them (my family) again,” she said. “My phone is my best friend. My phone is my communicator to everyone back home.”
And there is one way you know she’s not originally from SoCal.
“I really don’t like the beach that much,” she said. “I’m not a beach bum.”
Comfortable in California
Like almost all first-years, DiMartino had twinges of homesickness throughout her first year in college. Those uncomfortable feelings were not aided by distance, or the fact that she spent most of her freshman year away from school, traveling with the U.S. National Team.
“At first I was really nervous to leave my friends and family,” DiMartino said.
It took until sophomore year for DiMartino to finally get fully comfortable in California. Although love for her teammates helped get her though her first year as a Bruin, it was her second year at UCLA that really made Westwood feel like home.
“It wasn’t till my sophomore year where I moved into my apartment with four other roommates on my soccer team that I felt, this is my home, this is my family,” she said. “I felt really connected with the girls. Freshman year I was always gone.”
Finally feeling at home paid dividends on the field.
She continued using her small stature to help with quickness and possession, and her sophomore campaign saw DiMartino rake in numerous national awards and travel to her second straight College Cup. By the end of her junior year, she would be a First-team All-American, and M.A.C. Hermann Trophy semifinalist. She would also run her College Cup count to three.
DiMartino was turning the heads of everyone, her teammates included.
“On the field, I’ve never enjoyed watching someone play so much,” senior defender Erin Hardy said. “Her quick touches ““ I, when I’m in the back, my jaw drops. I love watching her play.”
Junior forward Lauren Cheney, who has amassed a few awards herself, calls DiMartino her best friend on the team.
“She is just the hardest worker, an amazing player and such a great friend off the field,” Cheney said. “There’s just not anything better I can say about her.”
For her part, DiMartino can’t say enough about how much she loves UCLA.
“I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” she said of her UCLA experience. “We’re a great soccer team. I’m so grateful we’ve made it to the Final Four three years so far. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t come out of it with a national championship, but the experience that I took from it will be forever with me.”
Caving in
As for DiMartino’s new dog ““ there’s a story there.
DiMartino lives in an apartment with four roommates who all happen to be on the soccer team and wanted to get a pet for the apartment since they moved in together two years ago.
“She would not allow it,” Hardy said. “She said, “˜I’ll move out if you guys get a pet.'”
DiMartino never could have a pet growing up in a house with so many people, and she cited rational objections like cost, lack of space and the fact that every resident of the apartment had to travel constantly and therefore could not take care of a pet.
She was adamant for two years.
Then she caved.
“We were talking about getting a bunny,” Hardy said. “And she finally was like “˜OK, let’s go get a bunny.’ So we go to a shelter, and we see these dogs, and she falls in love with this pit bull. She’s never had a dog before. And we end up adopting this pit bull, and it’s under her name.”
And while it might at first be hard to understand why this is an example of classic Christina, DiMartino can offer a reasonable analysis.
“Maybe deep down inside ““ I’m a softy,” she said. “I’m really a softy. I’ll say no, no, and if I see something and fall in love with it, I’ll want it.”
She might be a New Yorker with a big bite, but she’s also a softy and a great friend with an ever-so-slight pinch of SoCal.
And though that’s paradoxical, it only makes sense.