Value of staying on JV

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Oct 3, 2019
364
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- Is getting at bats in JV better than no at bats in V only?
- Did she bat 1.000 last year in JV?
- Is she able to practice with V to get to know coaches expectations?

I would encourage her to do both. I would use the JV playing time as a change to develop a "your the best player out there and need to lead the team that way" mentality and, as you mentioned, use the V practices and (limited) playing time to understand the challenges and expectations against better competition.

AND, I would take your ego out of the equation (a lesson I am still forced to re-learn from time to time)

At the end of the story, do you have any say in the matter or is it purely up to the coach?
It’s up to my granddaughter to decide. V coach has given her two weeks to decide, just before the games begin.
 
Apr 1, 2017
535
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Where we live juniors can play JV with principal and athletic Director approval. It is not common, but we do it in cases where the kid is at the appropriate skill level playing JV.
Almost every player at my daughters school goes into high school having played some level of "travel" ball. Combine that with good participation "post covid", and there is a lot of depth, even if there's not many "super high end" travel players. Mix in some questionable depth chart decisions last season (long story), and there were 8 juniors on JV. On the bright side, they were fun to watch. Also, with so many larger schools in the Chicago area, there are a lot of good JV teams.
 

Strike2

Allergic to BS
Nov 14, 2014
2,044
113
I understand the theories behind whether to sit the bench on Varsity or enjoy more playing time on JV. But I wonder what value that playing time provides when you’re facing freshmen pitchers that you already had success with last year as a freshman? Isn’t playing in less challenging situations just glorified practice? Doesn’t real growth happen during intensive practice and being coached by long time Varsity coaches over a JV coaching staff that literally changes every year? Is it just a myth that playing time on JV is more valuable than the overall Varsity experience? I happen to believe that immersion in the mindset of a Varsity level team has its place and is much more likely to instill drive and confidence while being among college committed seniors. Am I way off here? Yeah, it will be painful sitting the bench but she’s been told she would get pinch running duties at least. They just don’t want that to be all she gets. I say, work hard, learn and take your chances with playing time. Of course it’s her decision to make but my perception is, going back to JV is going backwards.

The quality of competition depends heavily on where you're playing and the depth of talent. DD's HS JV team could beat many varsity teams, and played other area JV teams that were just as good. As others have mentioned, the HS playing window is narrow. If she has a chance to play on JV vs sitting on Varsity, take the playing time. If she does well, the coaching staff may promote her quicker than they might if they never saw her play.
 
Aug 1, 2019
962
93
MN
As someone who has coached at the JV and varsity level for quite a while, the kids usually want to make the varsity team and then after a few weeks of sitting the bench are begging me to play in some JV games. Varsity sounds fun until you realize you aren’t going to play. The number of kids that are in the transfer portal is further proof.
Kind of sounds like you've got your own mini-transfer portal.
 
Oct 26, 2019
1,375
113
Kind of sounds like you've got your own mini-transfer portal.
I have always thought about JV and Varsity as “one program”. We always practiced together as a program. On game days the kids played either in the JV game or the Varsity game if they were what I would call a “bubble kid”. Too good for JV but someone at their position on varsity starting over them. Maybe a good sophomore catcher sitting behind a senior catcher. That kid would practice varsity but play JV. If I thought it was a team we would beat somewhat easily and I could get them in the game I would have them play varsity for that game.
 
Aug 15, 2021
94
33
My DD went through a similar challenge last year. As a freshman pitcher I knew there was a chance she may make varsity, but I was thinking she may not see a lot of innings. Figured it may be better to be on JV one season and get a lot of reps. In the end she didn't get picked up for JV. Our experience was JV was played like rec ball, lots of rotating players as positions (nothing wrong with that). They practiced less than varsity and with less structure. The varsity coach didn't pay a lot of attention. The team was much better than the other JV schools we played. Most games were run ruled. Daughter got more innings than most other pitchers, but typically didn't get more than 2-3 innings per game because the competition was not very strong and the coach wanted to make the game more exciting by putting in pitcher that would give up hits. Looking back on it now I think it did boost her confidence because she was dealing in the circle, she liked the girls she was playing with, but she was really bored a lot of the time. She had to do a lot more work on her own so she could stay in shape for travel.
 
Aug 5, 2022
361
63
The quality of competition depends heavily on where you're playing and the depth of talent. DD's HS JV team could beat many varsity teams, and played other area JV teams that were just as good. As others have mentioned, the HS playing window is narrow. If she has a chance to play on JV vs sitting on Varsity, take the playing time. If she does well, the coaching staff may promote her quicker than they might if they never saw her play.

Absolutely it does. We have a junior who is a committed d1 player still trying to make the varsity team because there is a line of players committed to higher level D1 schools at her position. The depth at some schools is insane. She’s been working a brand new position to try to break through. Unfortunately we don’t have much pitching this year so we’ll see if we can score enough runs to even it out


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Dec 15, 2018
809
93
CT
If my 08 freshman DD makes V this year (unlikely but not impossible – lost 2 seniors, with 5 strong incoming freshman, one objectively better than the rest who are all about the same but one is a catcher), she will sit the bench. She would also likely double roster and play JV games (they will have to do this regardless of which freshman make the varsity).

It would be “neat” if she made V (really just for the sake of having made it but not because it would further her player development), but either way, she’ll play JV games – half of those games will be good, half will be pointless. But, coming off of middle school ball, we’re used to that.

If there was a choice to be made one way or the other, would probably encourage her to play JV, just because at least it’s some playing time / reps.

As a random update, my DD did eventually get placed on the varsity roster, and is double rostered on V and JV.

While it is indeed “neat”, it is also a crap ton of time - this week is spring break and she’ll essentially be doing two-a-days, practicing for one team in the morning and going to the game in the afternoon for the other.

She has been a courtesy runner in V games, and might get an AB against some weaker teams.

This situation is actually probably great for development (starts on JV and gets a lot of practice) but it’s not great for getting homework done.
 

Cannonball

Ex "Expert"
Feb 25, 2009
4,854
113
I understand the theories behind whether to sit the bench on Varsity or enjoy more playing time on JV. But I wonder what value that playing time provides when you’re facing freshmen pitchers that you already had success with last year as a freshman? Isn’t playing in less challenging situations just glorified practice? Doesn’t real growth happen during intensive practice and being coached by long time Varsity coaches over a JV coaching staff that literally changes every year? Is it just a myth that playing time on JV is more valuable than the overall Varsity experience? I happen to believe that immersion in the mindset of a Varsity level team has its place and is much more likely to instill drive and confidence while being among college committed seniors. Am I way off here? Yeah, it will be painful sitting the bench but she’s been told she would get pinch running duties at least. They just don’t want that to be all she gets. I say, work hard, learn and take your chances with playing time. Of course it’s her decision to make but my perception is, going back to JV is going backwards.
Much of what you presented here vary depending on the program. When my daughter finished her college playing career, I returned to coach at the local high school as a volunteer. I was the JV coach. While I did all of the hitting in practice, the HC thought it important that I do that to help develop pitchers and coach that level with my experience. I agreed.

While the quality of pitching, hitting, and defense are inferior to the varsity, there are great opportunities to get in games and learn while playing. If I were asked during my playing days whether I wanted to sit bench or play JV, I would have picked playing every time. The "myth" you speak of is only if your dd is playing. Otherwise, someone at the JV level is getting playing time and improving. I can't speak for the practice situation so I don't know how much your JV players get to interact with the varsity. As I have mentioned here before, we practice both levels as one team so our players are interchangeable and know each other. In fact, they do all types of team bonding things to keep them together.

Your opinion about this will matter to her and could affect her attitude while playing. The coaches will notice that.
 
Oct 3, 2019
364
43
Well, the update is that she opted to stay with Varsity. Although the pros and cons of both were discussed and analyzed to death, including the playing time that she loves and thrives on, she had more friends on Varsity. Fast forward 3 weeks and the coaches told her they wanted her to get playing time on JV, the team had two injuries to CF that would keep them out, JV needed her and she would come back up as soon as JV season ends the last week of April. She was happy with their decision, actually, relieved. She admitted sitting the bench for V was starting to lose its luster. She is doing great, leading both teams in OPS, RBIs, and stolen bases at 100%. She went from being a lead off hitter to batting 3rd, but it’s still JV. Let’s hope it translates to Varsity. In terms of her confidence, it should.
 

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