The importance of being JV

Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.
Baltasar Gracian (1601 - 1658) Spanish philosopher, writer
In "Quotations of Wit and Wisdom," ed. & John W. Garder et al., 1975.

First old rowing saying of the day:

Behind every great crew is a very good JV. I'm not saying a great crew always has a champion JV, but they will be good. They have to be, by definition. Those are the guys that didn't make the top boat. They are usually rather annoyed by that fact, and take their displeasure out on the oar. It's not always smooth, controlled or anything pretty. However, good JVs will drive the coach nuts once per practice.

How? By going kamikaze and taking one piece from the varsity. They may be useless for the rest of the day, they may cheat on the rating, they WILL make snide comments to each other about that idiot in the launch, but they will push the varsity endlessly. And the coach will sit in the launch, stew about what the heck is wrong with this varsity that he's chosen and do I really have any idea about what I'm doing......

It's even worse for the guys in the varsity. They sit there, wondering what the hell is going on, can't we even beat the JV, how are we supposed to beat anyone, etc, etc. But the real result of such victories in practice is sharpening the mental edge of the varsity. By pushing that hard, the varsity gets faster.

Second of the day:

Nobody ever gets promoted out of a slow JV. This may have been disproved at some point in time, but it makes sense. The JV isn't a throw-away boat, ever. That is an opportunity for athletes to get better, developing for a push at the varsity next year. The JV is also an opportunity for athletes not in the varsity to race athletes of similar caliber from other crews. I've asked this question of a JV before: what boat would you rather be in? Varsity 4? 2x? Light 8? Who am I supposed to replace with whatever athlete decided they deserve to be in a higher boat?

Finally, the JV gets its own event at just about every regatta we go to. That event contributes points to the overall success of the entire team.

It's funny. When the coach steps out from behind the curtain and reveals just how much worry, sweat and guessing goes into boat selection, oarsmen tend to cease complaining. They know the score just as well as a coach, sometimes better. Every rower I've ever been associated with always wants the same thing: the fastest possible boats for their crew. It never comes down to people wanting to row with their best friend, thankfully. Watch Miracle at Oxford for the result of such insanity.

But there is one great part of being in the JV. It truly is the "party boat." Always will be. Third varsities have their own coach, as do the freshmen. The JV is supposed to share time with the head coach, but they never feel they get the attention they deserve. If the bowman is supposed to be the comedian of any crew, JVs seem to be all bowmen. Any why shouldn't the JV be the fun boat of the team? Isn't this supposed to be a fun sport after all?

JV story: I was in the JV for the first month of my sophomore year at Yale. The crew travels the first week of April to the San Diego crew classic, and we get rental vans at the airport. The varsity got one van, the JV another and the coaching staff get a car. Following the "staff car" out onto the California freeway system, the JV managed to follow along. The varsity, with the team captain behind the wheel, missed the exit and stopped in the middle of I-5. He then continued on to points unknown. We waited on the exit for awhile, until the CHiPs guys on motorcycles came along and sent us along. Upon arrival at Miramar (yes, we stayed at the "Top Gun" Naval Air Station) we were told we would race varsity tomorrow if the other guys never showed up........

There is another story from that year that involved a lunch at "Hooters" and our 4 seats lunatic attempts to convince our server to accompany us to Tiajuana. However, this is a "family blog" and I've probably said too much already.

Categories: Memories, Teamwork, Motivational, Yale, Rowing