There is a case to be made that the greatest athlete San Marino High School has ever seen is currently on campus. During the 2022-2023 school year, Giddings’ sophomore year, she became the first San Marino student to receive the honor of being named the San Gabriel Valley Female Athlete of Year. By the time she is done as a Titan, Kayla Giddings, 12, will have earned a school record fourteen varsity letters throughout her time playing soccer and softball while running for the cross country and track teams.
Since her time at Valentine Elementary School, Giddings has been incredibly active in the sports community in San Marino. She participated in the SMCAA basketball league and played softball in San Marino National Little League before attending Huntington Middle School, where she continued these sports alongside soccer and running. Giddings was a member of several softball all-star teams from the little league who made it to the California state championships. “My favorite memory playing sports was definitely my first state championship in little league,” Giddings said. “It was the first time any San Marino team had won a title like that in a long time and it was just the best feeling.”
As she began her time as a Titan, Giddings decided to run cross country in the fall, where she excelled. She also played soccer in the winter, making varsity as a starter in her freshman year, and softball in the spring, also becoming a starter on varsity. Giddings managed to compile a busy schedule in the spring, as she not only joined the softball team but chose to run track as well. Despite this heavy workload with little to no breaks, Giddings managed to maintain the 4.0 GPA needed to be a Titan Elite Scholar Athlete, given to the highest performing student-athletes on campus.
As previously mentioned, Giddings was named the San Gabriel Valley Girls Athlete of the Year by Fred Robledo of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. “It was shocking to me,” Giddings said when asked how she felt about receiving this honor. “Just thinking about how many female athletes there are in the San Gabriel Valley… and for them to select me was astonishing. It made me feel like my work as a multi-sport athlete was seen and valued.”
Since receiving this honor, Giddings has continued to excel on the soccer pitch, the track, and the ballfield. She has compiled several all-Rio Hondo league selections across her sports and this season qualified for state in cross country. “Making it to State was my goal for four years and to finally qualify as an individual in my last season was my favorite moment, since I had been working towards that moment for all of high school,” she said.
Next year, Giddings has decided not to continue with varsity level sports, and will not commit to play Division I athletics at any particular school. However, this does not mean that she is hanging the boots up entirely. “I’m all about competition, it’s a big part about who I am, so I think I will definitely find a way to compete in something at college because without any competition, I might go insane,” Giddings stated.
As her senior year concludes, there has certainly been time for reflection about her years participating as an athlete for the Titans. Through earning fourteen varsity letters, Giddings has endured the highs and lows sports bring, but through this journey, she has learned many lessons that have helped her grow. “One piece of advice I would share is to develop a specific goal and continue to work towards it, even if you disappoint yourself from time to time. It seemed impossible to qualify for state in cross country as the only girl on my team, but after three years of hard work it finally happened.”
Giddings, through her time as part of the sports community in San Marino, has established herself as one of the best athletes to ever come through San Marino High School. Her dedication and determination has propelled her to heights at which few Titans have ever reached, and where few may ever reach again.
