People rarely talk about the time they won a championship on JV, but in reality it’s the practice on JV that helped them earn the championship on varsity. It’s fair to say that the impact of JV teams is beneficial to nurture players’ skills.

According to Wikipedia, “junior varsity players are the members of a team who are not the main players in a competition.” The main players comprise of the members on the varsity team.

In reality, junior varsity teams are just as important as varsity teams. They are the reason why Wayland High School achieves athletic success.

In many cases, only one athlete per sport will make varsity out of an entire freshman class. Depending on the sport, that leaves between 10-40 athletes who aren’t on varsity. How do these players make the varsity team in the coming years? Through practice and playing on the JV teams.

Junior varsity teams are a place to achieve perfection. JV is not a place to slack off just because you might not be on the “big stage.” The junior varsity team is a place to push yourself to earn a spot on varsity.

Most people know Michael Jordan as one of the best basketball players of all time. Like many student athletes, he wasn’t a varsity superstar for all four years of high school. He was placed on the JV team his sophomore year and through hard work and dedication, he became a basketball legend.

JV athletes push varsity athletes to work as hard as possible. Often times, coaches could use JV players to motivate the varsity players into playing better, otherwise, varsity players could be benched. In addition, JV players can be called up during the seasons in case an injury occurs.

JV squads are important to the success of WHS sports as well as professional sports. They exist because they help prepare varsity teams for the next level of competition. Do not overlook the importance of a junior varsity team.