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Post by mholst40 on Apr 20, 2018 9:05:22 GMT -6
How many states allow Juniors to play JV football?
What are the pros and cons? Our section in CA just adopted a bylaw to allow all sports to allow juniors to play JV. Previously, this was only allowed in wrestling and Cross Country.
One of the schools in our district is extremely against this bylaw and wants our district to make a strict rule that doesn't allow junior to play JV per district policy. I believe there is a lot of merit in allowing juniors to compete at the JV level, especially in football.
Thanks!
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Post by dytmook on Apr 20, 2018 9:09:44 GMT -6
We usually have a few juniors on JV. No rule against it and we've played a few teams who have rosters big enough they have to have juniors on JV.
For us it's usually kids who won't see the varsity field and they aren't going hurt the younger kids. They may be the best kids on the field, but it's not a huge difference. The kids practice all week, they deserve to play a game.
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Post by chi5hi on Apr 20, 2018 9:38:51 GMT -6
We've played teams who have Soph's and Juniors. Some of them have Juniors who are Varsity starters and still play in the JV game from the 3rd quarter on.
I recall our JV's playing at home and at the start of the 3rd quarter, a van pulled up and unloaded several kids who took the field. They had just finished Varsity practice and came to and played in the JV game.
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Post by 50slantstrong on Apr 20, 2018 9:40:15 GMT -6
I'm in the southern section and grade level is almost irrelevant here. If you're in HS you can play ant level your coach chooses. We've had seniors on JV and brought up freshmen to play varsity.
I don't think it's a big deal for 11th graders to play JV. Better to let them develop and maybe get decent for their senior year instead of sitting them on the bench for a full year.
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Post by carookie on Apr 20, 2018 9:50:57 GMT -6
I'm in the southern section and grade level is almost irrelevant here. If you're in HS you can play ant level your coach chooses. We've had seniors on JV and brought up freshmen to play varsity. I don't think it's a big deal for 11th graders to play JV. Better to let them develop and maybe get decent for their senior year instead of sitting them on the bench for a full year. I too am in the ss, but i thought it was against the rules for seniors to play jv. Fwiw i have no problem whatsoever with a jr playing jv and dont really have an issue with it. As others have pointed out its a good way to get a kid work and let him play if he isnt doing so on varsity |
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Post by gators41 on Apr 20, 2018 9:57:49 GMT -6
If a JR is playing JV, then in 99/100 Programs, he is not a good player and wouldnt hurt the other team.
If you are playing a good player on JV then you have other issues in your own head, and your program.
I dont see any cons, if the kid is just an OK player that will never play his JR but might his SR year, let him get some reps.
Westlake in TX is so big that almost all of their JRs play on the JV team. But I think they have 4 teams.
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Post by fantom on Apr 20, 2018 10:13:26 GMT -6
How many states allow Juniors to play JV football? What are the pros and cons? Our section in CA just adopted a bylaw to allow all sports to allow juniors to play JV. Previously, this was only allowed in wrestling and Cross Country. One of the schools in our district is extremely against this bylaw and wants our district to make a strict rule that doesn't allow junior to play JV per district policy. I believe there is a lot of merit in allowing juniors to compete at the JV level, especially in football. Thanks! Here in Virginia we're not allowed to play juniors but I'm not sure if that's a state or district rule. |
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JoshC
Freshmen Member
Posts: 68
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Post by JoshC on Apr 20, 2018 10:16:50 GMT -6
Here in Colorado we are allowed to play juniors on JV. It's helped develop players at every program I've been a part of.
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Post by larrymoe on Apr 20, 2018 10:19:45 GMT -6
There aren’t any state laws in Illinois as far as to what kids can play where as far as I’m aware. Most are conference guidelines. I’ve played first year seniors on JV before.
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Post by 3rdandlong on Apr 20, 2018 10:23:38 GMT -6
How many states allow Juniors to play JV football? What are the pros and cons? Our section in CA just adopted a bylaw to allow all sports to allow juniors to play JV. Previously, this was only allowed in wrestling and Cross Country. One of the schools in our district is extremely against this bylaw and wants our district to make a strict rule that doesn't allow junior to play JV per district policy. I believe there is a lot of merit in allowing juniors to compete at the JV level, especially in football. Thanks! What area in Ca. are you in? We have Juniors play JV all the time. It's a necessity for our program. |
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Post by 3rdandlong on Apr 20, 2018 10:27:02 GMT -6
If a JR is playing JV, then in 99/100 Programs, he is not a good player and wouldnt hurt the other team. If you are playing a good player on JV then you have other issues in your own head, and your program. I dont see any cons, if the kid is just an OK player that will never play his JR but might his SR year, let him get some reps. Westlake in TX is so big that almost all of their JRs play on the JV team. But I think they have 4 teams. We practice Varsity and JV together. If you're not starting on Varsity for us, then you're probably playing in the JV game. It's great development for our players. We also will use JV as somewhat of a minor league type of environment. So let's say we have a kid who may get pretty good playing time on Friday night, we may have him play a quarter of the JV game because the opposing JV team is going to give him the best look of what the opponent is going to do on Friday night. |
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Post by newhope on Apr 20, 2018 10:30:19 GMT -6
Juniors on JV in most cases will never be big contributors on varsity--in fact, the only reason to put one there is if you think he could be a contributor if he gets some game experience. If they're never going to contribute, they are taking reps--both practice and game--away from a younger player who has a better chance of someday helping you out.
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Post by 44dlcoach on Apr 20, 2018 10:33:49 GMT -6
Our state has a rule that you get one game per week, suiting up counts as your game. JV plays Thursday so of ee suited a kid up Thursday for JV he couldn't suit up Friday.
I know other parts of the country have different rules so I wanted to explain ours first. With all that said, if we put a junior on JV that means we don't think he's good enough to be a varsity backup, and that we think playing varsity may be a safety issue for that kid. We've done it, usually with first year players or with really small kids.
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lws55
Sophomore Member
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Post by lws55 on Apr 20, 2018 10:53:08 GMT -6
In California, it is by section. We were in the SJS and could not allow Jr. to play JV (although they adopted it this year) and next year we will be playing in the NCS where they do allow Jr. to play JV. I think it is great for a kid who probably wouldn't see the field for Varsity to get reps in a real game situation, rather than just being a scout kid for our Varsity.
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Post by carookie on Apr 20, 2018 11:09:24 GMT -6
I was at a small school a couple years back that fielded a V and JV but only had 30-35 kids in the whole program. Of those we had 15 Fr Soph who would suit up for every JV game (which included two varsity starters). Sometimes those kids would swing two games back to back- though we'd try to limit their minutes. If they did not play we'd simply not be able to field a JV team.
On the occasion when injuries mandated it, we'd drop a junior down to play. Most larger schools I know of tend to not like doing this, but I really think this is a situation where numbers play a big role.
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Post by Hitch & Pitch on Apr 20, 2018 11:10:59 GMT -6
The Juniors that play JV in my program are usually 1st year football players that may have been afraid to play their Frosh and Soph years.
Every now and then one or two of them, after a year of JV ball and an off season of weight training, turn out to be decent ball players, and everybody says "just think if you played since your freshmen year"...
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Post by gamblinman5 on Apr 20, 2018 11:53:52 GMT -6
If a JR is playing JV, then in 99/100 Programs, he is not a good player and wouldnt hurt the other team. If you are playing a good player on JV then you have other issues in your own head, and your program. I dont see any cons, if the kid is just an OK player that will never play his JR but might his SR year, let him get some reps. Westlake in TX is so big that almost all of their JRs play on the JV team. But I think they have 4 teams. Pretty sure they have 5 heck maybe 6 |
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Post by coachplaa on Apr 20, 2018 12:15:38 GMT -6
We are in the San-Joaquin section of NorCal and its my understanding we are one of the last sections to approve Juniors playing JV. So we will have Varsity (anyone 15+), JV (Juniors, Sophs, and possibly Frosh) and a Freshmen only team. I understand some leagues have the freedom to go Frosh-Soph with their third team but our new league will be Frosh only.
Since this is new to us, our staff is leaning towards our Varsity being all Seniors and only starting with Juniors and Sophomores that are good enough to start or contribute on Special Teams. We are doing away with any adoration of winning Frosh or JV championships, we don't want our kids thinking we will beef up JV to try to win a JV championship. We are also looking at doing more Varsity & JV staff combination, so that the transition between moving kids from JV to Varsity will be smoother; since we anticipate some of our borderline Varsity kids that start on JV will be moved up once they show they can contribute.
Another thing we are looking at is adding a filter of having the kids Power/Hang Clean their body weight before they can be eligible for Varsity. For kids that weight more than 185, they must clean 185 to meet the requirement. Would appreciate feedback on that....
If there are any coaches that went through the transition, I'm really interested in getting ahead of potential problems rather than learning from mistakes.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Apr 20, 2018 12:52:40 GMT -6
Delaware- no rule against it. We play 9th-11th graders on JV as appropriate for their skill level. My program carries a 9th grade team, JV team, and varsity team...totalling about 90-100 kids.
We have even (in the past) had senior foreign exchange students or VERY LOW functioning seniors be allowed to play a JV game through correspondence with the opposing school. It is a rarity, but it's pretty cool to see a kid get to experience the game and it has always been done (under my watch) with discretion and sensibility- never in a situation where that kid would be "good" even among soph/juniors.
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Post by adawg2302 on Apr 20, 2018 13:40:06 GMT -6
When I played, we could have Juniors play on JV (not where I coach though). Had 3 teams: Varsity, JV (Fresh, Soph & Jr) & Freshman teams. JV played Thursday afternoon, Freshman Friday afternoon, Varsity Friday night. Juniors who did not get much PT on Varsity would play the 1st half of the JV game (2 quarters), then go to the Varsity practice. This allowed them to play Friday night as well (2 quarters) if needed. The Juniors would practice with Varsity only.
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Post by planck on Apr 20, 2018 14:09:56 GMT -6
Kids should play against ability appropriate competition in order to develop and be ready for varsity. If you got kids who can develop by playing jv, I'm for it. If you're being a dick and just trying to go 12-0 on JV, I'm against it.
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Post by Wingtman on Apr 20, 2018 14:41:02 GMT -6
We've always said if a kid was a varsity starter he didn't play JV, otherwise, regardless of grade (other then senior he played jv). I've had sophomores who didn't play JV, and Juniors who did. There are only so many games in this sport of ours, if a kid deserves to play, let him play. If you are loading up your jv with juniors who start varsity to win JV games, you got issues. Unless the team you're playing has a coaching staff that are jerks, you got fired from that school or dated a girl from that town and it went south, then yeah, play everyone and put 100 on them.
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Post by coachscdub on Apr 20, 2018 16:47:59 GMT -6
I mean it is called JUNIOR varsity. From where i grew up and played we always had a few guys who were Juniors on JV. They usually weren't the greatest players, but they usually did start on JV and it got them reps for when they got to their senior year.
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Post by mdunham on Apr 20, 2018 16:50:25 GMT -6
Football - we've done anyone not a varsity starter can play JV (seniors that wouldn't come close to playing or would be physically in danger have in past - offered as an option to still play). Freshmen play freshmen, we will only pull someone up if they are really good enough to play/start JV and can physically handle it. We had a QB a few years ago who we sped up and played on JV and was varsity backup. Extremely rare. Only when numbers were in the low 30s did the program have to combine freshmen and JV. All reps matter for us. We've had some kids really find some confidence and make some plays as jv juniors who become contributors as seniors.
Basketball - freshmen-junior can play JV. We only pull freshmen up if they play significantly. Otherwise we keep them together. Between sophs and juniors we'll keep the best players/who projects better. If its a real close call between a soph and a junior usually we go soph. At that point the junior probably won't be a varsity kid the following year and we'd rather put the time into developing a soph. No seniors on JV.
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Post by bluboy on Apr 20, 2018 17:04:11 GMT -6
We play juniors (who don't play varsity) and better sophs on JV. We are fortunate that we have a soph team and play only sophs on that team. If we move a frosh up, it's because we don't have any sophs to play that position; and the frosh only moves up to soph team.
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Post by stilltryin on Apr 20, 2018 19:12:10 GMT -6
We have freshman, JV and Varsity teams. Varsity and JV (sophs, jrs, srs) practice together every day, and underclassmen who don't start or get real time in the varsity game will play in the JV game on Monday.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Apr 20, 2018 22:53:20 GMT -6
We're in CIF SS and I've never heard of seniors playing JV, I believe it is not allowed. Not that any of our seniors would want to, that would be embarrassing. We sometimes have a junior or two but they are not difference makers. The juniors don't like it because they get clowned by the other kids.
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Post by coachorm on Apr 21, 2018 10:00:07 GMT -6
In TN we don't have a rule about who can and can't play JV based on grade. About the closest thing we have is the 8 qtrs rule. Any kid can play a max of 8qtrs of football in a week.
Personally what I do is any player that does not start or play quality reps in Varsity and is a junior or below plays JV. Those kids need the time playing and enjoying the game. They also have the potential to play Varsity the next season. Seniors never play JV because most don't want to and it does nothing to help build the program. The only exceptions I ever make to this would be like last year when I had a kid that rotated at varsity receiver but was also in the running for starting qb this season so he played a half of jv qb each week to get game reps.
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Post by coachd5085 on Apr 21, 2018 15:12:37 GMT -6
Essentially, if you have a decent sized program (25-30 kids from Soph, Jr, Sr with maybe 45-50 Frosh) or bigger with average to above average success with 3 competitive levels (Frosh, JV, Varsity) there will be kids with a "dead" year. If your philosophy is that Juniors don't play JV, and you are a fairly successful and well developed program chances are you are staring mostly seniors and that dead year would be the Jr. Year.
If you Allow Jr's to play JV (assuming you start mostly seniors) than that "dead" year would be the kids sophomore year.
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Post by 3rdandlong on Apr 21, 2018 21:32:32 GMT -6
We are in the San-Joaquin section of NorCal and its my understanding we are one of the last sections to approve Juniors playing JV. So we will have Varsity (anyone 15+), JV (Juniors, Sophs, and possibly Frosh) and a Freshmen only team. I understand some leagues have the freedom to go Frosh-Soph with their third team but our new league will be Frosh only. Since this is new to us, our staff is leaning towards our Varsity being all Seniors and only starting with Juniors and Sophomores that are good enough to start or contribute on Special Teams. We are doing away with any adoration of winning Frosh or JV championships, we don't want our kids thinking we will beef up JV to try to win a JV championship. We are also looking at doing more Varsity & JV staff combination, so that the transition between moving kids from JV to Varsity will be smoother; since we anticipate some of our borderline Varsity kids that start on JV will be moved up once they show they can contribute. Another thing we are looking at is adding a filter of having the kids Power/Hang Clean their body weight before they can be eligible for Varsity. For kids that weight more than 185, they must clean 185 to meet the requirement. Would appreciate feedback on that.... If there are any coaches that went through the transition, I'm really interested in getting ahead of potential problems rather than learning from mistakes. Juniors are definitely allowed in the Southern Section. |
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