‘All-around athlete’: Girardi speaks on her transition from basketball to javelin

After originally coming to Chapman to play basketball, Maija Girardi is thriving in competing in javelin for the track team. Photo courtesy of Larry Newman

The first javelins Maija Girardi threw at Chapman University were plastic. 

In her freshman year, Girardi, playing for the women’s basketball team, approached then-track and field head coach DeAndra’e Woods about a future throwing javelin for the track team. Yet her basketball schedule made it difficult for Girardi to attend practices and work out properly, without access to equipment.

Instead, Woods held unconventional workouts on the side with Girardi. Instead of real javelins, she tossed Turbo training ones — even sometimes footballs or tennis balls — while focusing on technique and circuit training. 

Two years later, she earned first place April 17 in the javelin throw at Chapman’s first meet of the 2021 season.

“I just rolled with the punches to get what I could out of the practices I was at,” Girardi said of her freshman year. 

From a young age, Girardi immersed herself in sports. She began playing basketball at the age of three and started competing in track and field in the sixth grade. In high school, Girardi played a sport every season: water polo in the fall, basketball in the winter and track and field in the spring. 

“In high school, it’s spread out easier so you’re able to compete in the entire season for every sport,” Girardi said. “Basketball and track overlapped quite a bit, so I missed out on the first few months of track while I was finishing the basketball season.”

While most dual-sport athletes are forced to make a decision prior to college about pursuing one sport, Girardi narrowed her college search to schools that offered her an opportunity to both play basketball and compete in track and field. That wasn’t a long list, but she found a home at Chapman, where Girardi had the chance to play basketball in the winter and throw javelin in the spring.

“I had always dedicated my time mostly to basketball and I wanted to pursue that in college because I put so much time into training for that,” Girardi said. “Track is something that I’ve always just really enjoyed doing and found a little bit of success (with) in high school, but nothing crazy. I wanted to see where I was at the collegiate level with both of those in mind.”

Woods first decided to help train Girardi in the javelin in her freshman year after evaluating her high school results, noting her natural talent. Eventually, after competing in both basketball and track and field for the Panthers her freshman year, Girardi chose to focus all of her attention on the latter in her sophomore season. 

“I found a great amount of success in track my freshman year,” Girardi said. “I thought I’d be able to accomplish more moving forward, potentially hitting the school record (and) going to nationals. That course seemed more optimistic than the basketball program.”

Despite the exit, women’s basketball head coach Carol Jue and her former teammates continue to support Girardi’s athletic endeavors. 

“Going from a team sport to an individual sport sometimes can be difficult, but a lot of the basketball players really did support her too,” Jue said. “I went to one of her meets as well and I always try to be very supportive of our student athletes, even if they don’t play for me anymore.”

Ultimately, Girardi credits her experience juggling both sports throughout her life to her current achievements. 

“Basketball helped with my track performance, in the sense that I was coming right out of basketball season, so I had that competitive mindset,” Girardi said. “Being able to come out of a basketball season allowed me to bring the momentum to track.”