A life accompanied by an unconditional love for ice hockey, a strict discipline divided between sports and academics, the passion that allows you to face continuous and long journeys to pursue ambitious goals, and the joy of choosing paths that bring stimulation and great satisfaction. These words summarize who Giorgio De Giacinto is: a student in his 6th year of Medicine and an ice hockey player, born in 2000, who is currently playing for Hockey Club Feltre in the Italian Hockey League, the national second division.

Giorgio, what is your relationship with hockey and when did it all begin? 
«My relationship with this sport is purely one of love; there is no "love-hate" as happens to many. I started playing at the age of 4 in my hometown, Feltre, purely by chance. In fact, my mother wanted to enroll my brother and me in a figure skating course but accidentally went to the wrong desk. That coincidence gave me an unexpected encounter that still lasts today».

What is sport to you and how can it be useful for studying? 
«I have played hockey for a lifetime; for me, it has been and is a source of release, a tool for growth and personal maturation. I strongly believe in the ability of sport and its competitive identity to deeply forge character, a necessary element to undertake and experience the long path of school and study with the right attitude».

What are the fundamental stages of your sporting career? 
«I started in Feltre and played there throughout the youth ranks until Under-16, when some of us were integrated into the Alleghe team; we played there for almost 5 years, where I alternated youth championships with Serie B in Feltre. Subsequently, I played in the Under-19 team for Asiago, even winning a Coppa Italia, before a brief period in Pergine and later returning home to Feltre, where I still play today».

What kind of player are you? 
«I have always been a fairly offensive defender, and in attack, I consider myself more of an assistman than a goleador. I have good stickhandling and I like to set up the play. Unfortunately, this element perhaps did not allow me to experience a career at an even higher level; my main limit has been and remains my physique. I have always tried to compensate for these limits with a certain sporting intelligence».

Has sport allowed you to have important international experiences as well? 
«I would certainly say so. I played with the Italian youth national team from Under-16 to Under-20, also participating in two editions of the Under-18 World Championships, respectively in Slovenia and Ukraine».

Your university path? 
«After a year of Biotechnology, also in Trieste, I took the Medicine and Surgery entrance exam and passed. I have always been attracted to the functioning of the human body and anatomy. Today I am proud of the choices I made and the path I've taken; I am up to date with all my exams, even though the effort has been great. Studying and living in Trieste over the last 5 years, I traveled a lot, commuting—very often at night—between the Julian capital and Veneto, primarily Feltre, where I was playing. They were tough seasons, especially until I had my driver's license and moved by train, but it was definitely worth it. I would do it all again».

What are your future goals? 
«I have very clear ideas about this. I want to graduate this year and then undertake a specialization, most likely in the surgical field. On the sporting side, having always lost the semifinals and finals played in previous years, I would like to close the circle by finally winning a championship with Feltre».

The closing, given current events, could only concern the upcoming Milano Cortina Olympic Games. 
«Honestly, I can't wait for the Olympics to begin. For ice hockey, a discipline still too little known in our country, it will be a splendid showcase, also because all the best players in the world from the master teams of the discipline will arrive in Italy. I am certain that a passion for hockey will be born or, for others, consolidated, just as happened on a smaller scale in Feltre. Once, only about twenty people came to the games, then people got closer, and I cannot forget how 5 years ago for a play-off final, the stands were full with 2,700 fans. Simply amazing».

The UniTSport column is produced in collaboration with CUS Trieste.