Catching Up with Former Cardinal and Olympic Hopeful Jessica Javelet

Louisville field hockey fans will recognize Jessica Javelet as the most decorated player in program history both on and off the field. At one time, she had aspirations to represent the United States in field hockey, but sometimes life has other plans. She may indeed be headed to the Olympics, but instead it will be with the USA Rugby Women's Sevens team as the sport makes its Olympic debut in the 2016 Rio Summer Games.

Since graduating from UofL in 2007, Javelet's journey has led her down many paths including playing in the USA field hockey developmental system and then competing in the sport professionally in Germany. She went on to coach field hockey at the collegiate level and turned her athletic talents to women's football where she played for three years and was named co-MVP of the Women's Football Alliance national championship in 2013. Later that year, USA Women's Sevens Rugby came calling.

Javelet recounts how she got involved with USA Rugby after another former football-turned-rugby player put her in touch with then-head coach Ric Suggitt who was searching for "crossover" athletes to compete on the Women's Sevens team.

"She actually got me in contact with the coach and he called me up," said Javelet. "At this time I was coaching field hockey at St. Joseph's in Philly and he asked if I wanted to come for a rugby tryout. I had been coaching there for about two years and I said 'not really.' But he said 'I think you should come out and try it.' So he got me a ticket and I went to California two weeks later. I came out here and tried out and kind of fell in love with it. He offered me a spot training full time on the team. I was a little bit unsure about taking it, because I had been training previously for three years with the USA Field Hockey team, but I decided to take it."

As fate would have it, Women's Sevens Rugby is making its Olympic debut in the 2016 Rio Olympics and the Eagles qualified in June 2015. Javelet has been instrumental in the Eagles success over the past three years and one of 20 resident athletes at the United States Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. The final Olympic roster will be announced on July 17.

Javelet came to Louisville in the fall of 2003 after being recruited by then-assistant coach (and current Louisville head coach) Justine Sowry. The Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., native went on to become UofL's only three-time National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) All-American. A quick synopsis of her other career highlights includes being named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year in 2005 and 2006 and garnering all-conference honors from 2004-06. She proved to be the most prolific scorer in program history, owning both the season and career records for goals and points. She capped her career as the school's first Honda Award finalist for field hockey.

As successful as she was on the field, Javelet was equally accomplished in the classroom, graduating in 2007 with a 4.0 GPA in marketing and was the valedictorian of the business school as well as UofL's Outstanding Graduating Senior. The program's only three-time CoSIDA Academic All-American was also named the 2006-07 BIG EAST Female Scholar Athlete of the Year and earned an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship to name just a few of her academic and extra-curricular accolades.

"JJ is one of a kind," said Sowry. "I am so excited that she has an opportunity to represent her country at the Olympics as it would be a dream come true. She is blessed with incredible athleticism and speed and to be able to crossover to a sport that she had never played, is a testament to her wide range of abilities and talent. Her resilience, toughness and fortitude have enabled her to persevere through the toughest and challenging times and now she is on the verge of accomplishing something very special that not many people get to do."

The following is an excerpt of a Jessica Javelet's interview for GoCards.com
(What's next for USA Rugby Women's Sevens as we get closer to the Rio Olympics?)
"We're going to be playing scrimmages against New Zealand – which is the team to beat – in Florida during the whole month of July. We'll play two games a day for three days. Then the team will go from there to processing in Houston and from Houston we'll go right down to Rio."

(What was it like being brand new to rugby when you first started?)
"There were a few of us who were kind of new. But most of them had started playing in college and that's when they got introduced to the sport – but some of them a little bit younger like in high school. I knew literally nothing. Someone told me that I played in my first international match three weeks after starting rugby. I didn't even know the rules. It's an entirely different sport, not even something that I grew up with like football where I had seen it before. I had no idea. And in rugby, it's the opposite, so in field hockey when they put their hand up, it's the direction in which the ball is going, but in rugby, they put their hand up to the team that gets the ball. So the whole time I was confused. I had no idea what was going on."

(What is your daily schedule at the Olympic Training Center)
"We're in a residency program at the Olympic Training Center. We practice five to six days a week. Right now we're in a block where we never have more than one day off in a row. So we'll go three days on, one day off, two days on, one day off, just so we can have really intense days. We're building up toward the Olympics so that we're not going to have a peak. We're going to go from here to the Olympics so we'll just have a steady ramp up.

For the most part we're doing three to four sessions a day, practice in the morning, a lift, another practice in the afternoon with a video session, meeting with our nutritionist, sports psychologist, team meetings… I'm at the training center every day from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. which is cool, because at the training center, they provide us with meals, they have a full cafeteria."

(What are some memorable morments in your rugby career?)
"One of the coolest moments was when we beat Australia for the first time it was last year (2015) in Atlanta and we ended up going to the championship game. That was one of the best memories, because it was when we started to realize that we are good. We're good enough to beat the top teams and we're good enough to be a medal-contending team and I think that it really solidified to us that we deserved to be where we are and ever since then, just trying to match the top teams."

(You seem to be the epitome of a multi-sport athlete – how many have you played?)
"In high school I played lacrosse, soccer, basketball and field hockey and football and rugby later. I also played water polo for a season which is the hardest sport I think I've ever played. In other sports like rugby, you can stop in the field, but in the water, you can't, because you'll drown."

(What are some of the highlights from your field hockey days at Louisville?)
"That's a tough one. I do remember all of the games… I think probably when we won back-to-back MAC (Mid-American Conference) championships, the second one when we were down at halftime and came back and won 4-2. Other than that would probably be something silly like playing handball with the team."

(Are there similarities between field hockey and rugby?)
They are entirely different sports. But the thing that I would take from field hockey that has helped me is that the position that I played – center mid – is a little bit of a playmaker – being able to see what's in front of me and reading the space and setting people up and recognition. I think that has helped me be able to read the space in rugby and either setting people up or taking the gap myself.

(What are your long term goals?)
"Right now I'm focusing on the Olympics – getting through the series to the Olympics. In 2018, we have the World Cup coming up that might be a possibility, but I still love field hockey – I coach field hockey still right now – in the fall, I coach at Torrey Pines (her former high school), I am a head coach for Futures at the Olympic Training Center. I really love coaching. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to envision myself going back to college coaching, because I really enjoyed working with athletes in that capacity at that level. That might be my aspiration, to go back to field hockey and coach in college."

(What advice would you give to a younger player?)
"Never in a million years did I think that I would get a second chance at going to the Olympics. I thought that my chance was in field hockey and when that didn't happen for me in 2008 and when I was cut in 2009. I never thought that it was possible to have a second chance. I'd kind of mourned the loss of my Olympic opportunity. Then I came back and had this chance. If anything, I would just say you've just got to believe in yourself. There are going to be ups and downs.

More than anything else I've learned throughout this process is that it really isn't about the Olympics or the games or the tournaments or anything like that. It's more about the day-to-day stuff. Every single day. The Olympics, if I get to go, will be great experience. It's a three day tournament and it will be over in the blink of an eye. And I'll get to say I did that. But what I'll remember more than anything are all the days I spent with my teammates out on the field. And you have to love that. You can't just put your sights on this one thing, you have to love it every day. You have to put in the work every day. You have to live your passion. I think that's really what I've learned out of all of this. It's every day that matters. Enjoy the experience.

A small percentage of people get to go to the Olympics. For whatever reason, you might never realize that dream and if you put all of your eggs in that basket, it's going to be a disappointment when you're done. You might have a sour taste in your mouth which is kind of what happened in field hockey for me, because I don't think I had the right mindset. But now I have a different mindset. Not going to the Olympics would suck, but I have made so many good memories and I've had such great experiences leading up to it, that I can still walk away regardless of what happens and say was a great experience. I've really learned a lot. I had a great time and it was a great use of my time. I have no regrets, I did everything that I could possibly do, and at the end of the day, selections are out of my control. As long as I do what I can and I love it every day, then it was life well spent."

University of Louisville Athletics

Catching Up with Former Cardinal and Olympic Hopeful Jessica Javelet

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