"Nobody gets special treatment": Hannah Hidalgo opens up on getting bullied by her brothers and being different from her sister

Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo didn’t ease into basketball. She was thrown into the fire early, playing intense pickup games with her older brothers while still in grade school.

In a candid piece for The Players’ Tribune, on Saturday, Hidalgo shared how her sister was never into sports. From the time she was seven or eight, she joined her brothers on the court. They didn’t take it easy on her.

"My sister wasn’t into sports (I was trying to ball, she was trying to go to the mall), so I kind of got drafted into my brothers’ world from the time I was 7 or 8 years old,” Hidalgo said. “One of them was always at basketball practice and needed an “extra” for 2-on-2; I was ready to rock.

As Hidalgo explains, there was no holding back from her brothers because she was a 'girl':

"Nobody gets special treatment. They’d be playing bully-ball! I had to be a dog out there. I’d be diving on the cement for loose balls."

Hannah Hidalgo (3) goes up for a layup - Source: Imagn

They pushed her. Pressured her. Blocked her shots without hesitation. And Hidalgo didn’t back down. She learned to scrap, figuring out how to shoot with two hands to get enough power behind her shot.

“Giving them little elbows in their ribs when they tried to post me up,” she said. “(You’ve gotta get up under the ribcage and hit the soft tissue. That’s the key.) I learned to shoot with two hands, launching that thing with my full body weight.”

Hidalgo hated when the games ended and begged for more.

“And I loved it. I used to get so mad when they’d want to go inside at night. Like, why do we need to eat? Nah. Run it back!"

That drive hasn’t changed. Hannah Hidalgo's grit and fire, forged in those early battles, still define her game today.

Hannah Hidalgo sums up her spirit in one word

Hannah Hidalgo posted her message on X after publishing her Players' Tribune article, “Created a Monster.” The message was clear:

“Unmoved.”

Last season, Hidalgo averaged 23.8 points, five rebounds, and 3.6 assists while shooting 46.3% from the field. She overwhelmed opponents, and there’s no sign of her slowing down.

Notre Dame star Hidalgo said she wanted to “turn into a problem.” For every team facing the Irish, she already is.