Volleyball player hits the court and the runway.
George Brown Huskies' Mike Di Carlo, a North York native, reacts to a point during Ontario Colleges Athletic Association volleyball action at Seneca College on Saturday. Seneca went on to win the match in three straight sets.
Photo/MELISSA TAIT
Mike Di Carlo has a girlfriend, but even she knows there is competition.
For the kid who once grew up in North York, volleyball and Di Carlo are inseparable.
Even when he posed in nothing but some sassy underwear for a commercial, Di Carlo still found a way to clutch a volleyball in one of his hands.
A graduate of York Mills Collegiate, the 21 year old - wanting to pursue a sports marketing career after he graduates from George Brown College - has something else going for him when he's not in classes or committed to volleyball practices and games.
He's a model.
Di Carlo chuckles when people offer up favourable comments on his 6-foot, 2-inches, slim 175-pound physique more so than his fearless efforts playing a sport that has been good to him - but also led to several operations on his knees.
The repetitive jumping, from his high school days to several club teams to George Brown, has taken a toll with cartilage tears and trips to the surgical ward three times: twice on his left knee and once to the right.
So, the other day when he dislocated his finger in a college game, causing some people to grimace just by looking at the strange way the finger was facing, Di Carlo said he's been in worse situations.
"Seeing a finger pointing sideways is not pretty," recalled Di Carlo.
"It's sport and these things can happen. After the therapist put it back the way it was supposed to be, and it was painful, I remember having a great game - better playing because I was all fired up."
A former athlete of the year while in Grade 9 at Windfields Junior High, the feeder school to York Mills, Di Carlo has been playing volleyball for as long as he can remember.
"Been a long time, played some soccer, but volleyball was always number one," he said.
"But I am actually much better playing beach volleyball, in the sand, and in the warmer weather with an elite club in Toronto."
A right side power hitter, Di Carlo knows what to do with a volleyball - and opposing teams know how he can dominate a game.
Di Carlo is hoping he can help his George Brown College teammates, struggling to secure a final playoff spot in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association East Division, pull off a few upsets and make it to the provincial playoffs set for Feb. 23 to 25 in North Bay.
The Canadian finals in Abbotsford, B.C., a month later, would be a bonus.
Time management may not be one of his strengths, but Di Carlo has found a way to make the best of everything - including a modelling career.
When a scout at a volleyball game had connections with a modelling agency, then suggested to him that he think about it, Di Carlo was initially blown away by the mere thought.
"At the time, I thought me, a model?" he said.
"My mother pushed me to try it out. Parents are supportive, older sister thinks it's cool, but there are still some people, and some friends, who like to make fun of it and I accept it."
Fast forward a few years and Di Carlo is now linked with one of largest modelling agencies in the country with offices around the world. That's paved the way for magazine, TV and Internet appearances and many major events.
Di Carlo wouldn't reveal what he gets paid or contractual arrangements for posing, and always in a variety of clothes, but he did say stinginess was not part of his style and some earnings don't go completely to his pocket.
He has two cousins who are autistic and has made several financial contributions to the Canadian Association for Mental Health to support their work.
Just like having favourite teams he likes to play, and not play, Di Carlo also has his personal list of the best modelling sessions and at least one that he did feel uncomfortable.
"The best has been the tailor-made Hugo Boss suit. It was about $4,000," said Di Carlo.
"I wore it in Italy, in Milan. Lots of photos for some major magazines. I was there about three months. Expenses covered and I got paid. It was just fabulous, but I couldn't keep the suit."
And then there was the session in "gold tights".
"Never forget that one," he said. "That's all I will say."