Saratoga News

Sports

Grosso of Saratoga among the REACH scholarship winners

By Kevin Sparrer

Sometimes in high school sports, athletes play with injuries, or maybe with personal problems or facing some other type of adversity. But many of them are able to work through the hard times in order to find something better.

Thankfully, those stories of heroism do not go untold, and more importantly they don't go unrecognized.

Each year five scholarships are given out to athletes who were forced to overcome the odds to play their sport. The San Jose Sports Authority's Recognizing Excellence, Adversity, Courage and Hard Work Youth Scholarships honor just such athletes when the scholarships were presented by NFL Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott, the honorary chairman, and women's soccer star Brandi Chastain at a breakfast held on May 11.

Bernard Anthony of Gunn High School, Mia Williams of Overfelt, Saratoga's Julianne Grosso of St. Francis, Cupertino's Julie Galli from Archbishop Mitty and Bethany Nolette of Leland split $9,000 in REACH scholarship money.

Nominations came in from teachers, counselors and coaches from each high school in Santa Clara County. Students submitted essays describing how they fought through adversity and how sports played a crucial role in helping that process. Local community leaders created a panel and reviewed all of the essays and interviewed the candidates, then selected the six scholarship winners.

Bernard Anthony, this year's big winner of the $2,500 scholarship, was forced from his mother's custody, along with his four siblings, when he was only 4 years old. Along with his two younger sisters, he was adopted and raised by a woman in his extended family.

In elementary school, Anthony was diagnosed with a learning disability, but through hard work and perseverance he learned by playing basketball, and he was able to remain in regular school classes. He continued to play basketball in high school and AAU and was named his team's Most Valuable Player and the defensive player of the year.

Julianne Grosso, who won a $1,500 scholarship, began playing field hockey her freshman year in high school and fell in love with the game. In her sophomore year she advanced to the varsity squad, and after playing as a back-up goalie her junior year, she prepared to take on a leadership role in her senior season.

But just prior to the summer, she was in a car accident and her pelvis was shattered in seven places. She was in the hospital for two weeks for surgery and was still in a wheelchair when practice began in the fall. Despite the wheelchair, Grosso still attended practices, eventually coming on crutches. She was able to return to the team on senior night, but was only able to use her stick before the game. She hopes to continue on and play field hockey in college.

Julie Galli, a $1,500 winner, had to overcome being born with only one hand. Growing up in Cupertino she has played volleyball, soccer and basketball, and she has competed in cross country and track. What's more, she's also learned to play the guitar. She did research in the library on one-handed serving techniques for volleyball and played on Mitty's freshman and junior varsity soccer teams.

To make matters worse, before her junior year she tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee in a club soccer championship game. Still, she was able to return for her senior year to run cross country and track.

Mia Williams won a $2,000 scholarship and Bethany Nolette of Leland High School won a $1,500 scholarship.

Local athletes among the nominees were Alexis Reilly, Archbishop Mitty; Eric Baum, Stephen Powell, Dane Rasmuson, Robert Valenti and Jordan Vargas, Bellarmine; Brian Shi, Lynbrook; Jessica Lau, Darryl Tom and Marcus Woo, Monta Vista; Katie Harrington, Notre Dame; Kevin Blakley, Westmont.