JV players moved up to play for varsity teams creates positive effect for entire sports team
The line between junior varsity and varsity sports teams is no longer as defined as we had once thought it to be. At the start of a sports season, teams are separated based on grade and skill, but what is not taken into account is the room for growth for each player and their potential to play for a team of higher caliber. Thus, the trend of moving junior varsity players up to varsity midseason at MVHS is more common than people think. Current junior football players Austin Burrow and Joe Malcolm played for varsity last season, and JV water polo girls moved up to varsity for tournaments. The only question now is, how are the dynamics within the team between JV and varsity affected by these changes?
As it is, moving up junior varsity players is deemed legal by the CCS. The risk that comes with this move, in many sports such as water polo and football, is that this action is irreversible.
Varsity girls water polo coach Don Vierra said, "League rules don't allow you to move someone down. Once you've played a varsity game, you're varsity for the rest of the season."
However, in some sports such as baseball, players are allowed a grace period in which they can try out the varsity level, then determine whether or not it is a good fit. They can move up and down a total of three times.
Despite the legality of taking people from the junior varsity team, it is not without its disadvantages. Depending on the depth of the players on the sports team, the effects on the JV team can be very large.
"Last year it hurt us," junior varsity football coach Nick Bonacorsi said. "It depends on the players and what we have behind them, because last year we lost four two-way starters, which is a big number, so it takes players away from us."
Despite this negative effect on the JV team, there are times when there is no other choice but to move players up.
"There were a lot of injuries last year, so we needed to move people up to fill in those empty spots," said senior Geoffrey Hong, varsity football player. Other times, there is just a lack of players for a certain position, and sophomore athletes that display a talent for it can be moved up as well.
"Last year, injuries were a factor, and a few of the kids were just good, so if they're good enough to play on varsity they might as well go up, so they can have three years of experience at the varsity level rather than two," Bonacorsi said.
Jeff Mueller, varsity football coach, said there were two reasons to move players up: "First of all, we may need help on a certain position. And the second reason is that their performance has been such that they probably could be performing at a higher level," he said.
Vierra also has a plan in mind for moving up his JV girls water polo players. "Towards our league finals, we will definitely move up a number of girls that we anticipate starting for us next year on varsity," he said. "Right now we want to get them as much playing time as possible. By moving them up now, they would not get much playing time in varsity games. We want them to improve their skills, get some more in-game experience, and also develop team chemistry, and then towards the end of the season, around league finals, we'll move them."
Mueller justified why compromising the good players on the JV team was not necessarily a negative thing.
"The JV team has different goals," he said. "First is to have the kids learn how to play football. The second goal is to develop better players for the varsity program, because the varsity program is the one that has the up to move on to CCS playoffs if it's successful."
According to Vierra, JV players that move up to varsity get exposure to a higher level of competition, leaving room for the freshmen to step up and get more playing time, to be ready to replace those JV players next year. It's a win-win situation.
