How is JV high school ball supposed to work?

Simple...JV is a tool to develop varsity players in larger school programs. The nature and number of JV teams depends on the size of the program. At some schools, you might see two or more teams below varsity level. You don't see seniors on JV teams because if they aren't good enough by that time for the varsity team, it's time to find a new activity.

For many, and perhaps most, school ball is a maddening experience. Unlike TB, you don't get to select the coaches or team mates. You get what you get, and even in better programs, the "sausage making" is often somewhat messy. I've also noted something of a "Lord of the Flies" mentality among some players in school ball, which would be squashed on any good TB team in a matter of seconds.

Here in western NY, we are seeing a move to Modified (7,8,9) and Varsity (10,11,12). Larger schools still have Mod., JV, and Varsity. If a JV is called up to V, she cannot go back down, which means she usually sits the bench and "gains experience." A lot of parents won't accept this and refuse the "promotion". Coaches at the 2 lower levels are under a lot of pressure to not cut players and try to play everyone equally at the smaller schools.

JV here is mainly TRY (I use that term loosely, but that is the thought) and develop players that are in 9th and 10th to play on V in their 11th and 12th grade years. What has happened lately is that the 11th graders that aren't playing much will get sent down to JV and the coaches will get told that they are to play.

How I would do it if I was the HC? Given my school has about 23 players on JV and V. I would have figured out who my top 13 to 15 were. Top 11-12 would be on V. Bottom 3-4 would be put on JV and would be the first ones that would get the "call up" to V for injuries/ineligible/sick, etc. Keeping an eye on the JV team, if a JV player would be out preforming a V player, they would switch. Here, 12th graders HAVE to be on V.

Normally JV is the feeder team to get the lesser experienced girls some playing time.

I think it is important to remember that school ball is the only opportunity some girls have to play sports. Our current jv team has 4 girls from troubled homes. One girl gets a ride from another girl's mom. One gets a ride from a volunteer who is basically a stand in parent. The jv parents took up a collection to pay for the pregame meals for a third girl who would have been left out. My dd is lucky to have the talent and the opportunities that have allowed her to play on the varsity team as a freshman. I am very glad that these other girls have the opportunity to play school ball and realize it may be some of their best childhood memories and experiences. When I was in high school we got to take a charter bus to schools that were more than 2 hours away and we got a sub and chips to eat on the ride back. At the time these things were a big deal for me. Yes I grew up in the middle of nowhere in Southwest Virginia.

JV can be such a mixed bag around here.

DD 3's JV team is ALMOST competitive for a conference made up of large schools.

For the games DD 3 has pitched, her record is 4-4. The 4 losses are by a total of 7 runs. The 4 wins are by a total of at least 54 runs, maybe more.

Which means there are two main types of JV teams around here. Those that are essentially rec league teams, and those that are developing players for strong varsity programs. The best JV pitchers at the strongest schools are at least as good as some of the varsity pitchers at the less competitive schools.

DD 3's team is borderline. Had Varsity not taken a couple of their best players up, they would be close to the top of the conference in JV. Not in varsity, though.

Our school treat F and JV primarily as feeder for V. F team is 100% freshmen, JV is a mix of Freshman and Sophs, with maybe 1 or 2 Juniors, and V is primarily Juniors and Srs with maybe 1 or 2 Sophs. Despite being a pretty large high school (~4000 kids), we don't have a great pool of high level SB talent. Our V team is typically a .500 team that gets knocked out of playoffs in first or second game. Our JV and F teams typically dominate the other JV and F competition.

As has been said, it really depends on the school. Our school is not "win at all costs" at the V level. It is more based on grade level with 1 or 2 stud sophs pulled up (haven't had a Freshman on V in 4 years). The for more serious players on the team, most view it as spring practice for travel ball and an opportunity to play with friends and represent the school.

4KidsDad said:

This is our first year with HS ball and DD swings back and forth between Varsity and JV.



We've had a very sour experience thus far.



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Dad, would you mind sharing why you feel the experience was sour?

Our school appears to have a long range plan from Modified 9 through varsity...a long range need is established and what year by the varsity coach. They lower coaches then feed that plan. For example, JV catcher is only an 8th grader...varsity catcher is 9th grade...so she will play JV until backup V catcher (10th) graduates, then go to Varsity. DD was moved from 3rd/C to 1st to meet the need next year..

seems like a good plan... one of top programs in NY.

You got to swallow your ego and have good convo's with your DD...go from there.

quincy said:

I do not think seniors are allowed on JV here either but not positive what the official rule is which is why I asked.

That rule is one of the reasons lower classman get pushed around a little bit. Plus well, she is an underclassmen

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No rule against it that I am aware of. At least not in my state. In my opinion it has more to do with ability than age/class. We don't have any seniors playing JV this year, but we did have two last year. One had never played before and thought it would be fun her senior year. The other would pitch because the other two pitchers (senior and sophomore) pitched all the varsity games. This particular player was our varsity 2B but hadn't pitched since her freshman year. She volunteered to pitch JV and we didn't have anyone else interested, so...

We live in a small town so we only have JV and V. JV is normally treated as a feeder program for V, mostly freshmen and sophomores with a couple of upper classmen who would never have a chance to play at the V level. V is normally mostly upper classmen with a couple of the best freshmen and sophomores pulled up. Last year the HC talked to 4-5 girls who were borderline V and gave them the option of being on the V team and sitting the bench most of the time or playing JV and getting most off the innings. Most, if not all, chose varsity and missed out on a lot of good experience. I'm hoping the coach decides to make that decision on her own from now on.