It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network.
You know we're getting set and ready for the big game, but I had to tap it with somebody who was on site in New Orleans, in Louisiana. He's a big deal online. He's a big deal in helping to protect us.
You might have seen him on Wheel of Fortune and Fear Factor. This is someone who is a captain on the Navy's football team. This man is a captain today in the Navy. It's Captain Jervie Alota. Captain, how you doing? Hey fam, how are you JR? Man, that was probably like the best intro I've ever received, so I appreciate you.
Listen, we'll send it to you. We do things correctly here. Thank you for your service and helping to keep us safe. Man, I appreciate your support, man. I'm walking around here in my uniform looking sharp, and I can't tell you just how many people have come up to us, showing their support, shaking my hand out of respect. It's a great atmosphere out here, and it feels great to be able to wear the cloth of our nation and people just respecting it and giving us their gratitude. Well, we appreciate you. Have you had a chance to dive into some crawfish or beignet yet? Did you touch any of that captain? Oh my goodness. I'm telling you, first thing when I got in, I was like, I gotta get me some seafood, I gotta get me a boil, so I found a nice little spot here in the city, got me some crawfish, I had some garlic butter on top of it, and then I finished it off with three beignets. I don't know if I needed that, but it was certainly nice to my stomach.
Living good and eating good. We're gonna talk about your experience playing football, but I gotta ask you right out the gate. You played defensive back in school for the Navy, you won the Aloha Bowl, you beat Tech. Who you going with in this game? You a defense guy? You going with the Eagles defense? I am a defensive guy, right? But more so, I'm just a Mahone's hater. I'm a Chargers fan, born and raised in San Diego. I just know that he's been there and he's done that.
Let's give other people an opportunity, a chance. I know if it's close in the fourth quarter, he's gonna get it done. He's a closer, so I'm rooting for a Philly blowout.
Hopefully it's like 42 to 13. Oh my goodness. Naval captain Jervie Alota is here with us. You heard it from him.
He is rooting for those Eagles. I see why they made you captain when you were playing. I understand now why you're in the Naval Academy Hall of Fame for athletics.
I understand now. What got you into playing football? Initially, my dad forced me to play.
I was just a little freaking thug, just running the streets in a bike gang, doing my own little thing. My dad realized at an early age that I needed to get involved in something, some sort of team activity. So he forced me to go play. He said, you give me one day on the practice field and if you don't like it after that one day, then you can quit. But you got to give me one day. You got to commit to one day. I went one day and I absolutely fell in love with this beautiful game called football. Wow. But how did you end up from playing football to the Naval Academy?
How did that happen? You got options. I'm sure you had choices of where you wanted to go.
To be honest, I didn't. I was a scrawny little Filipino kid. I wrestled 98 pounds my freshman year in high school. But I was a beast. I was a monster that would just run around with no regard to my body and just cause havoc. But I was still little.
My senior year I was about 145 pounds and I didn't have many offers, but my buddy who played receiver was big time. He was a blue chipper and he wanted to go to Navy and they were recruiting him real hard. And we were really good friends and he knew I wanted to go to the next level.
So he said, hey, if you guys are going to take me, I'll go, but you got to bring this kid with me. So I was kind of a package deal. So by the grace of God, man, I had the opportunity to go to a D1 school and play at the highest level. What I'm telling you, like when when when life gives you opportunities, you got to take full advantage because that was an opportunity that I had. And I don't think that I could have crafted a more ideal career for myself, starting as a freshman, playing 40 consecutive games, leading the school or second leading tackler to the school, the Hall of Fame, like you name it.
I did it. And I was just a kid that wasn't even supposed to be at that level, let alone starting as a freshman. Captain, Naval Captain Gervia Lotus here with us on the JR Sport Reshow Coast to Coast. You talk about being captain of that football team. You're a captain now. Explain to all the listeners, we all know about the Navy, what you guys do at sea, part of what you guys do and protect us. What is your what is your role today as a captain?
Put it in football terms for us. OK, so, you know, we can't bypass the fact that I commanded three warships. So I was like the head coach for three teams, three huge organizations. My ships consisted of about 300 sailors and another 400 Marines when we are fully outfitted. So I commanded three of those. Now I am the director of community outreach, really just kind of building awareness to different communities that don't know too much about the Navy, telling my story to get them pumped and excited to actually sign a contract to be a be a part of the best and most premier Navy force in the world.
Man, that's that's amazing. Where can people find out more information, Captain? Yeah, if you go to Navy Dotcom, you know, you could just like peruse for that website. It gives you details about every single job that you can have in the Navy, whether it's from seabed to space, you know, whether it's, you know, kinetic and physical or whether cerebral.
Like we offer so many different opportunities, whether you want to be a SEAL or explosive ordinance guy or, you know, a cryptologist, a doctor, a dentist, a preacher, a counselor, you name it, we have every opportunity that your heart desires. And if you get on Navy Dotcom, it'll give a brief description about everything that we do and we offer in the Navy. Or you could just go on any social media platform, IG, Twitter or whatever it is now and look up America's Navy hashtag America's Navy. And you can I mean, just peruse to that thing.
We could talk about it all day long. And it's pretty obvious that I'm pretty passionate about what I do and all the jobs and opportunities that the Navy has. But if you just go to that website, you can find out a lot about the opportunities that the Navy offers. This parallels, Captain, between your time at the Naval Academy and obviously values. How does how does football, how did playing football, getting involved in athletics prepare you for your pathway and what you're doing now? Yeah, as I told you, like I probably wasn't a blue chip D1 caliber recruit, so I had to work my butt off. I had to prepare myself mentally. I had to prepare myself physically. So I was in the weight room before everyone else joined just because I needed to get bigger. I needed to get faster.
I watched more film than anybody. So when you talk about preparation, that was what allowed me to start as a freshman because I prepared my butt off. And that's just like the Navy. If you don't prepare mentally and physically to join our service, to do the job that you've been asked to do, you're not going to do well. It's all about sacrifice.
Right. Like and you got to work your tail off. When I played football, you know, I was trying to balance my academics with the military, with football. And if you don't have that discipline, if you don't have that work ethic and if you can't make those sacrifices, you're not going to succeed in the military.
And the last but not least, like the biggest parallel for me is. When the lights are shining bright, you got to bring it right, like you can't work hard, prepare your body and your mind to be at the big show and then just fail. You got to be clutch when the when it's shining bright, you got to be at your very best. And that's what we ask for our sailors, because you could train all day long, but when push comes to shove and you're facing an adversary, but you crumble under pressure because you can't take the heat, then we don't need you. We need we need you ready to go when lights are bright to be at your very best. And that's kind of the three main parallels that I draw from the Navy with football.
Hey, we love that and appreciate that U.S. Naval Captain Gervia, a lot of final question for you. You got me hyped and I'm lazy. I just talked in front of the microphone all day. You got me hyped. I know you said you cannot stand the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes.
I know you played defensive back. If they need the call, if they need you, are you ready to go out there and sack that man? I'm on like, let's go.
I don't know if like he's a little bit shifty. So if you like I made for a sale. But, you know, I'm a given my all. I got one good 40 left in me. I got one good hit on me.
I maybe I'm bigger now, so I may be a hands on the ground kind of guy. But give me one play coach, fourth and fourth and short, whatever game on the line. Put me in. I'm ready to go. And Captain Alota, we appreciate you. You're a star in your own right. Where can people follow and keep up with you?
Yeah, I got an Instagram following. I'm kind of a spokesperson for the Navy. If you go to IG at Captain Jervie G E R V Y, you can find me there. Hey, Captain, we appreciate you. Thank you again for your service.
The next time you have to swing through ATL, you're not on the seas. You shoot me a hollow, OK? Hey, I appreciate you. I had a pleasure doing this. You are the man. I appreciate you.
