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junior varsity or JV players are the members of a team who are not the
Junior varsity playersMembers of a junior varsity team are underclassmen determined by the coaching staff to have less experience or ability than those on the varsity roster. As such, junior varsity teams are used to prepare these athletes to compete at the varsity level.
Some teams require participation on a junior varsity team before being eligible to try out for a varsity team. These players can provide the varsity team with extra depth, with their service as back-up players.
Many sports teams have assistant coaches responsible for developing the talent of junior varsity players.
When they playFrequently, a coach will sometimes call on one or more junior varsity players at a point in the game, especially when a varsity player is injured, is not performing well, or (because of a violation) is disqualified from further competition. If a junior varsity player does well, he/she will often see more playing time in a future game or may even get moved up to the varsity level.
Often, a team will have many talented players, but the coach is unable to come up with a rotation that allows everyone to play.
The decision of when to play junior varsity players in a one-sided game is often at the coach's discretion; this depends on his/her strategy, the time remaining in the game, the point margin, and the situation. Sometimes, the coach of a losing team—especially if they are not very good or have many inexperienced players—will continue to play his
However, if, for instance, in a basketball game, the winning team is ahead by a substantial margin late in the game, fans can usually expect the coaches of both the winning and losing teams to "empty their benches"—that is, remove the
Other sportsOther sports have different ways of determining junior varsity participants
. For instance, in high school wrestling, there can only be one wrestler competing for a team at a particular weight class in a given varsity match. The team's representative is often determined by a "challenge match," in which the top two wrestlers at that weight compete for the right to participate in the varsity match. The loser wrestles that night's junior varsity match.
A similar format may be used for sports such as golf and tennis, with players who lose to varsity opponents participating in the junior varsity part of the meet.
Junior varsity gamesJunior varsity players often play in specially-scheduled events (called junior varsity games) to gain skills and experience. Sometimes, these games are played immediately before a varsity contest; or if a school has a sophomore or freshman team, the junior varsity game will take place on another night. Records and statistics are kept for the junior varsity team, and some leagues offer a junior varsity championship. An assistant coach often acts as the head coach for these games.
In some sports, such as tennis and golf, a junior varsity meet will take place simultaneously with the varsity event; however, the scores are separately tabulated. In track and field, a junior varsity "heat" of a particular event may take place either before or after the varsity "heat" (again, implementing separate tabulation of meet results).
Quite often, an underclassman who plays on a junior varsity team one year gains enough experience to be one of the
Junior varsity teams may or may not travel with or take the field/court with the varsity team. This is often dependent on the size of the varsity team, availability of transportation and policies invoked by either the coach, school or league.
Slang termsSlang terms for junior varsity players include:
- Mop-up players, with their playing time called "mop-up time" or "garbage minutes."
- Players who "ride the pine" or are "bench warmers", since they spend most of the game on the bench.
- "Second-stringers" (and third-, fourth-stringers, etc.); compared to a game's starters and top substitutes, who comprise the first string. These lower strings sometimes are as talented as the first string, with little or no drop-off in playing ability, although even if the talent of the winning team's bench isn't as good, these players may be able to easily outplay a weaker team's first string.
- Scrubs, considered a derogatory term by some.
- Reloads, also considered derogatory by some.
- JVFL, derogatory term designated to junior and senior grade level junior varsity players. Short for "junior varsity for life."
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