Janowski Rebounds

Freshman Rose Janowski of the Harvard women's basketball team knows how to spell "tenacity". That was the word that won her the 1988 spelling bee in her hometown of Glover, Vermont.

Eight years later, Janowski is still displaying that same strength.

After being on Harvard's campus only a week, she learned that she would have to undergo major invasive surgery. Because the doctors predicted a three-week recovery period, the Harvard administration suggested that she take a year off.

It is an affirmation of Janowski's personality that her community wrote letters pleading her case to the Dean's office. Finally, Dean of Freshmen Elizabeth Studley Nathans relented and gave her a week to rest. Janowski incredibly resumed training for the basketball season in only seven days.

"Obviously, it's a testimony to how bad she wanted to be on the team," junior Jessica Gelman says. "It's been an inspiration to the rest of us."

The 6'2" Janowski was heavily recruited by Harvard coach Kathy Delaney Smith, who hoped that her height would strengthen the team.

"I was hoping that Rose would help us with a little bit of size," Delaney Smith said.

Initially, it was Janowski's impressive stature that prompted her to play basketball in the fourth grade. Although she sometimes felt awkward about her height, she decided to use it to her advantage in the sports arena.

"I was always taller than the guys--still am," Janowski says.

Her junior high history teacher doubled as her first coach in the Junior Hoops League. The coach instilled Janowski with a love of basketball.

She continued with basketball although she recognized upsetting differences between the junior high and Lake Region High School programs.

"On junior high teams, you say at least I got to play," Janowski says. "There's not any discontent like on high school teams."

Janowski admits that she found her high school team's success pleasing, both for herself and the implications it has for women's sports.

"It was great to have people recognize that women's basketball is not just a club sport," Janowski says.

Janowski did not go unnoticed and was recruited, with the promise of full scholarships, by both Syracuse and St. Joseph's. Instead, she chose to go to Harvard.

Her Crimson teammates depict Rose as the paragon of optimism in the face of her surgery. Even her coach found her positive attitude remarkable.

"For any human being, never mind a 17-year-old girl to have to undergo invasive surgery, is traumatic," Delaney Smith says. "I was so impressed with Rose's attitude; she was so poised."

However, Janowski's outward appearance of confidence, on and off the court, was somewhat of a facade.

"I was so nervous the first week of practice," Janowski says. "I thought these girls are older, bigger, more experienced. I didn't think that I could play with them."

While her effort has been unflagging, Janowski admits her performance has been erratic.

Playing either center or forward, Janowski averages 4.8 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. It was not until the game against the University of New Hampshire that the freshman displayed the athletic ability that she possesses. Since that time, Janowski feels she has reached new heights.

"Instead of Suzy Cheerleader, I'm actually out there on the court," Janowski says.

Her coach attributes her dramatic improvement to natural physiological healing.

"Following the surgery, she was fairly inconsistent and weak," Delaney Smith says. "However, after the change [in her play] over exams, it was clear that her body had fully recovered."

Rose uses her optimism to her own advantage. She enjoyed a successful fall semester academically, an accomplishment which does not escape her fellow basketball players.

"I think of all the freshman, Rose is the one who has her priorities set, especially during exams," freshman Sarah Russell says. "Then she came back and turned it on because Rose is all about game."

That Rose is committed is an undeniable fact. When asked what she does for fun, she replies that she plays pickup basketball games with her friends and roommates. She also shrugs off the possibility of injury during a friendly game.

"I probably should worry about getting injured, but I don't," Janowski says. "I can't see myself getting hurt when I'm having fun playing basketball."