Lehigh University Athletics
John Jaravata performing up to par
9/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
There was no question whether or not John Jaravata would play a sport in college--the question was which sport he would play. Having excelled in tennis and golf (not to mention playing basketball and soccer) in high school, Jaravata was torn between the two sports. "I went with golf," says the finance and marketing major from Brick, New Jersey. "And I know I made the right decision."
Because of his extraordinarily low average of 37.2 (for nine holes) and a win at the prestigious Maxfli PGA Junior National, Jaravata was recruited to play golf by a number of schools. He claims he chose Saucon Valley as his home turf because of Lehigh's strong academics. In addition to his business degrees, Jaravata plans to pick up a minor in biology in hopes to work with the financial aspect of pharmaceuticals, which no doubt was inspired by his parents' careers in medicine (dad is a physician and mom is a nurse).
It didn't take coach Kelly Gutshall long to realize he had made the right decision with Jaravata. In his first tournament as a freshman, Jaravata joined two juniors and two seniors and shot two 73's to earn medalist for his team. "Coach Gutshall said I had to prove myself, and that's what I was determined to do," says a humble Jaravata. Last year, he was named All-Patriot League as a sophomore.
Jaravata isn't only well rounded in the sports arena--he's also a musician. "I play classical piano and some modern stuff." Now and then he pops into Zoellner to play for a half an hour or so. Jaravata's biggest audience was at his high school graduation, when he played a duet of "Canon in D" with a friend. "I was shaking at first, but then I pretended no one was there and I was practicing at home--sort of a mental game."
This mental game clearly works for Jaravata on the course as well, because he has no trouble playing under pressure--a critical skill in a golfer. "I played in a lot of national tournaments before I came to Lehigh, so I was used to playing under pressure. In that first tournament where I knew I had to do well, I forgot about having to prove myself and just thought about playing my own game."
"Playing his own game" has helped Jaravata tackle many goals, both personally, and for Lehigh. "First I wanted to make the team, then I wanted to make the traveling team, and now I just want to stay on the traveling team and continue to improve," he says. Having recently changed his swing, Jaravata's average went up slightly, but then dropped back down below where it was before.
To maintain his goals, Jaravata practices hard, playing four to six hours a day during the golf season. He also goes to the gym at least three times a week to do cardiovascular exercise and weight lifting.
And the golfer proved there are no boundaries to his athletic abilities at the first annual Lehigh Superstars Competition, where the top athletes in golf, tennis, basketball, soccer, swimming, weight lifting, football, and lacrosse compete against each other in their various sports in addition to an obstacle course. "We had to exempt ourselves from two of the sports, including our own," Jaravata says. He exempted himself from weight lifting, because it involved a bench press, which could interfere with his golf swing. Jaravata did well in all the sports, especially tennis. "I actually played well against someone from the tennis team, which showed me I haven’t lost my game…now the tennis coach is being really nice to me," Jaravata jokes.
In the future, Jaravata would like to work in either the investment or trading end of banking, where his golf game is sure to come in handy. When asked if he ever thinks of playing professionally, Jaravata says it's in the back of his mind, but his main focus is academics. "I want to do well in school and graduate and if I feel my game is there at the end of my four years here, maybe I'll take a year off and try out. But I want to have a degree first. And if I don't use it professionally, I can always use it in business--golf is huge, especially in the finance industry."
