Written by Readers, Justin “Jolly” Rogers is a remarkable athlete and person who recently broke the Pennsylvania State Meet AAA record with a vault of 17 feet 3 inches … utterly remarkable. Not only is he talented, but Jolly embodies what it means to respect not only a sport, but also his competitors, his teammates, and his coaches … while knowing how to make us all laugh at the same time. (Seriously, you can’t help but laugh when he makes jokes during a practice … it’s infectious) If you want to describe Sport Culture, it’s Jolly.
Jolly, an 18-year-young (yes 18-year-young – Jolly will never be old at heart) athlete from Hershey, PA, will be attending The University of Virginia in the Fall, while majoring in Kinesiology to prepare for a career in Physical Therapy. He has a very bright future ahead of him; Jolly was happy enough to give me a short interview about his experience.
Jolly embodies humility and confidence at the same time. As he states it, “I had no idea i’d be here … in a car ride to my first practice with my Mother I thought, ‘ah, hopefully i’ll be at least average’ and well, what’s happened feels surreal. (Followed by clearly genuine laughter)
“I’m always nervous, especially at the PIAA State Meet. I knew I had a shot at the record, but had it happened indoors due to bad weather, it wouldn’t have counted officially. In essence, I am very thankful that the officials moved the meet back to outdoors when they were able, and they worked their butts off to do so.” (The meet began outdoors, had to be moved indoors, then was moved back to outdoors … yeah it was a mess for awhile)
However, Jolly embodies Sport Culture not only through this performance, but for the respect he shows to his coaches. His predominate Coach, Matt Concannon of Vaultworx, LLC describes Jolly as thus, “He just has this X-Factor about him, and the results speak for themselves. In order to succeed in this event, you must do thousands of repetitions correctly and bring a positive attitude – that’s Jolly. I am so proud of him as a person and an athlete.” (Vaultworx has all six state records in the Pole Vault and were at the forefront of bringing the event back to prominence in PA. Check ’em out)
Furthermore, his future Coach Mario Wilson from The University of Virginia already holds him in high esteem. As he states, “He’s awesome! Justin had an incredible High School career. He’s a true student athlete who excels both in the classroom and any sport he chooses. We’re thrilled to have him commit to UVA as we are sure he will undoubtedly rewrite the record books here on our grounds. Welcome home, Jolly.”
So, I could keep going on in this testimonial, but I’ll just say, these sentiments extend to every Coach and Teammate I spoke with about Jolly, but I would rather end it with Jolly’s take on his High School career, “It was the perfect ending to a perfect four years … the coolest part? I knew I was in the ‘Good ‘Ole Days’ when I was living them – time to keep making memories at UVA.”
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is what Sport Culture is supposed to be and feel like. Love for the sport, Coaches, and teammates, followed by true humility.
From one amazing athlete and person, Justin “Jolly” Rogers and I, Cheers to Sports.