Seniors Develop Team Chemistry On, Off Court

Teammates. Roomies. Best Friends Forever. Call them what you like, the senior trio of Graham Beatty, David Giovacchini and Kevin Rogus won’t mind. The Dunster House residents and roommates since 2002 dismiss the idea that they are perhaps too close with one another.

“I can’t spend too much time with Kevin,” Beatty insists, an endearing inflection in his voice. “It’s just not possible.”

Rogus laughs. “It’s funny cause there’s like eight of us in all, and you know how roommates always have, you know, battles or fights? I don’t think the three of us have ever once had a battle. Ever.”

As if to thwart the opportunity of a sappy moment in the brief silence that followed, Giovacchini quips, “Want to fight, Kevin?”

Make no mistake—there is no ambiguity regarding the duo of Rogus and Beatty. Well, at least not anymore. As of two weeks ago on thefacebook.com, Beatty had boldly proclaimed to the world that he was “In a Relationship” with the shooting guard. However, Rogus evidently was only “In an Open Relationship” with Beatty. Notified of this discrepancy, the forward laughed.

“Yeah, we’ll look into that,” Beatty says. “That’s something that [we’ll] have to work on.”

Despite their clownish nature, the three all insist that their unique sense of togetherness bolsters their play on the court.

“Hanging out definitely helps,” Beatty says. “I don’t know if it’s just basketball or hanging out so much, but the two of us pretty much know where each other is going to be on the court, all the time. We just connect—that’s a combination of hanging out all the time and basketball.”

The ambience on the fourth floor of G-entryway in Dunster is one of perpetual craziness and excitement, according to roommate Ryan Alfred.

“They are definitely a blast to live with,” Alfred writes in an e-mail. “There is simply never a dull moment.”

“We’re definitely jokers 99 percent of the time,” Rogus admits.

As much as they may seem like just a group of jokesters, the group takes the important matters in life more seriously—like surfing.

Alfred is a southern California native, and he spent the summer after his sophomore year teaching the trio how to surf when the three of them lived together in a beach house.

“There is nothing funnier than seeing a 6’8 kid surfing,” Alfred writes of Beatty. “I threw them out in the water without leashes, on boards that were too short, and they still couldn’t get enough of it.”

Beatty, Giovacchini and Rogus are now proud members of the Harvard Surf Team, of which Alfred is President.

“Yeah, I’m from Utah, and I’m on the surf team,” Giovacchini jokes.

Asked who the best surfer was, after a pause, Giovacchini says finally, “I think we all suck.”

Surfing and basketball aren’t the only sports they’ve found a shared passion in.

“For some reason those three got incredibly excited about fencing and decided to go give it a shot,” Alfred writes of the trio’s participation in the intramural IM fencing tournament.

As improbable as it may have been after Rogus and Beatty were ousted from the tournament in the early rounds, Giovacchini dominated the opposition and took home the IM fencing crown, according to Alfred.

Perhaps the game they devote the most time to off the court—Halo—best attests to how close the three really are.

“They definitely take video games very seriously,” Alfred writes.

Beatty is by far the most talented video game player, but when it comes to Halo, all three have had some very close battles. Giovacchini improved by leaps and bounds throughout last year and was consistently beating Beatty, but there is still much parity.

Now, hopefully for the Crimson they can transition their skills learned in Slayer Mode to the basketball court.