Christian Galdabini : Servite’s Defensive End Has Become Authority on Handling of Reversals

A back injury forced Christian Galdabini to take things slowly last year. No football. No physical activity, period. Just school and a part-time job at a pizza parlor to pass the time.

But this fall, Galdabini’s gone back to the grind.

Up at 6:30 a.m. for a quick breakfast and shower. Out the door by 7:30. Arrive at Servite High School before 8, in time for class at 8:05. Classes until 2:05, then off to the football locker room to get taped, grabbing a quick snack along the way. Football practice from 3 p.m. to 5:30, back home by about 6:30.

“An hour for dinner, just kicking back,” Galdabini said. “My Mom usually gives me that. But by 7:30 or a quarter to 8, she’s in there getting after me to get my homework done. I do homework until 9:30 or 10. By then, I’m usually too tired to do anything else, so I just go to bed.”

It seems a bit mundane, and it certainly doesn’t allow a guy much free time. But Christian John Galdabini wouldn’t have it any other way. He’s seen idle time, and has decided it’s not for him.

“When you’re in a routine, you know what time you’re going to be home and that you only have so much time to do your homework,” he said. “The general routine of it all makes it easier.”

Galdabini had more time than he knew what to do with last year. He had a nagging back problem that was eventually diagnosed as a herniated disk. When he collided violently with the turf in a passing league game early in the summer of 1984, he suffered a broken vertebra. Doctors told him that only time would heal his back--time away from the football field.

“That upset me a lot,” Galdabini said. “I was really looking forward to playing varsity. I had looked forward to it for a long time. All of a sudden, it was yanked away from me just like that. It upset me, but I learned to live with it.”

It was so insignificant compared to what Galdabini would have to learn to live without; so trivial compared to the tragedy he and his family would face.

Last Dec. 20, Galdabini’s father committed suicide.

“He died of something nobody understands . . . at least nobody I know,” Galdabini said. “I call it dying of depression. You don’t see it coming. None of his friends saw it coming. My Mom said she knew something was wrong, but none of the kids knew. It just happened.”

Galdabini, the oldest of five children, has had to help his family recover from a loss he said he has only recently begun to understand.

“I don’t try to assume a father-figure role because that’s something I could never do,” he said. “I’ve just tried to take a position of authority, where I’ve settled the arguments and fixed dinner a couple of times. But I think everybody in the family has pulled together.

“I think we’ve done really well. A lot of families might not have made it through something like that.”

Galdabini has made it through to return to the football field and become a starting defensive end for Servite.

His comeback has been more trying than most.

Time passed slowly as Galdabini was recuperating from his injury. “I didn’t do much at all,” he said. “I wasn’t allowed to weight lift. I wasn’t allowed to do anything physical. I basically just went home every day at 3:30. I had a job at a pizza place by my house, and that took up a little bit of the time.

“You’d think that you’d get better grades with the idle time, but I was so upset over the whole situation that I didn’t do that well in school.”

Finally, late last spring, Galdabini was deemed fit to return to the football field. He would return to a position he had never played before.

At the beginning of spring practice, Servite Coach Leo Hand approached Galdabini about the possibility of moving from tight end to defensive end.

“We run a full house backfield,” Galdabini said. “In our offense, the tight end is used in about one of every four plays, mostly as a blocking position. I wouldn’t have been involved in many passing plays.”

“(Hand) said he wanted to get me in a position where I’d be playing most or all of the game, and he suggested defensive end. I said, ‘Sure.’ I really want to play. I don’t want to watch.”

Early reviews indicate that Galdabini is playing quite well, well enough for Hand to consider him a vital element of his defense. He’s also the team’s punter.

“We do a lot of X’s and O’s around him,” Hand said. “A lot of people doubted that he’d be a good defensive player, but he’s adapted very well. He’s getting to like it more and more each week.”

Galdabini said that making tackles instead of trying to avoid them took some adjustment, but he’s made the switch. He’s even adopted the temperment coaches like to see in defensive ends, though he doesn’t usually show it until game time.

Said Tom Garcia, Servite’s defensive end coach: “I’ve always felt that you’ve got to practice with intensity all week long, that you can’t turn it on on game night. Christian’s one who’s proven me wrong. He doesn’t get too excited in practice, but at game time the intensity’s always there.”

At 6-foot 4-inches, 227 pounds, Galdabini usually comes out ahead when bodies collide. It’s his size, coupled with his athletic ability, that he hopes will attract attention of major college recruiters. This season is crucial to him because he’s making up for lost time.

“It’s kind of tough when you’re coming off a year when you’re not even on one piece of game film,” he said. “The attitude I have coming out this year is that I know I might have a chance because of my size and ability and what coaches have told me. But I’m just going to go out and do what I’m responsible for on the field the best I can.

“I’m not looking to make the miraculous interception or be the hero. I’m just trying to do my job the best I can.”

He’s also doing the best he can at dealing with his father’s death. His emotions have ranged from grief to guilt, guilt to confusion. As with his injury, the recovery process takes time. But Galdabini seems to have a knack for comebacks.

“They say you never get over something like that, but I’m working on it,” he said.