Junior Varsity and Freshman Teams
Many larger high schools also have a separate junior varsity team along with their regular or varsity team. In many cases, these teams – sometimes called the "sophomore team" – are made up of sophomores and some freshmen, although some underclassmen will be called up to play varsity, especially to replace injured varsity players or if the underclassman player is exceptionally talented. At larger schools, there often will be a third team for freshmen (called the freshman team).
Typically, there are no playoffs for junior varsity teams, although many leagues will award a championship title to the team with the best record. Overtime rules are often disregarded, meaning it is possible for games to end in a tie. Junior varsity teams usually have the same schedule as the varsity, with many games played on the same night and at the same site as the varsity game, with the JV game serving as a preliminary contest before the varsity game.
Some schools also field a true junior varsity team, which are simply made up of junior and senior players who typically do not see playing time in the varsity game (except during the final minutes of a one-sided game); some freshmen and sophomores will also play in these games, as will a few juniors who start but either are playing in a different position and/or will be expected to have leadership roles as seniors. In addition to providing opportunities to play in a timed contest, coaches may use these types of contests to see how well underclassmen and juniors play together, since they would replace varsity players lost to graduation; and to assess the talent and actual game-situation abilities of those players who rarely get to play in varsity games. While sometimes these games will be played on the same night as varsity games, true JV teams often play on a different night and may have a separate schedule composed of conference and non-conference teams.
Read more about this topic: High School Football In North America
Famous quotes containing the words junior, freshman and/or teams:
“Never burn bridges. Today’s junior prick, tomorrow’s senior partner.”
—Kevin Wade, U.S. screenwriter, and Mike Nichols. Katharine Parker (Sigourney Weaver)
“It is well known, that the best productions of the best human intellects, are generally regarded by those intellects as mere immature freshman exercises, wholly worthless in themselves, except as initiatives for entering the great University of God after death.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“A sturdy lad from New Hampshire or Vermont who in turn tries all the professions, who teams it, farms it, peddles, keeps a school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to Congress, buys a township, and so forth, in successive years, and always like a cat falls on his feet, is worth a hundred of these city dolls. He walks abreast with his days and feels no shame in not “studying a profession,” for he does not postpone his life, but lives already.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)