How important are JV teams?

Is it fair to say that the successful Varsity teams are a direct result of the programs that give the JV teams a lot of attention and instruction (especially when the Varsity coach is active). I know some programs were the JV teams are actually treated as second class citizens. Any thoughts or examples on how JV teams are treated in your area?

 

It's a few things

I think you see good JV teams in place where the a few things take place. One: The varsity coach is active at practice. Combined practices. Two: Where you have a good feeder program. It could be a rec league or middle school program. Three: Parents. Many times parents that work with the teams in a support role. Little johnny you are going to have to work to make the Varsity squad, not you should be on the Varsity squad. Looking at programs that work with the kids to get them better. Not resting on this great bunch of what I have now. Coaches taht will replace a Varsity player if he has a better JV player. Not just keeping him around.

 

It just depends in imo

I have seen hs programs that the jv teams were very competitive year in and year out. But it never really translated to success at the varsity level. I have seen programs with weak or very average jv teams just about every year and the varsity always seems to be strong. You can not judge how good a jv program is by wins and loses at that level imo.

Many programs bring the young guys up if they can help the varsity. Some programs leave them down regardless. Some programs practice varsity and jv players together some do not. Some jv programs have very good coaching at the jv level and some do not.

I think the real indication of how good your program is , is how much do your players develop over the four years they are there. There are several factors that enter into this equation. The level of the coaching he gets at the high school. How hard does the player work? How hard does he work in the off season to get better. etc etc

I believe that you need to develop all of your players in your program. The jv is your feeder program for your varsity. We have had a traditonally weak jv team. But I feel a very strong jv program. Here is what I mean. We do not have alot of talented players coming into our program. Very seldom do we get freshman that have played at a high level or have been coached at a high level prior to hs. So we usually take our lumps at the jv level. We spend a ton of time on teaching them the fundementals of the game , teaching them the way the game is supposed to be played , building mental toughness , work on core strength , arm strength etc. Our goal is to make them good varsity players capable of helping us win varsity games when they are jr's and sr's.

Quite honestly winning jv games is way behind learning how to get better so you can help us win varisty games down the road. If we had freshman studs coming in maybe we could do both. This will be my 12th year at South Granville. We have yet to win a conference title at the JV level. But we have won numerous conference championships during the last 11 years at the varsity level including a 32-2 record in conference play the last three years. None of these players ever had a winning record at the jv level.

When I see a kid come in to our program that is not very talented - quite honestly that is usually the case - I dont think about how is this kid going to help our jv win. I think - If this kid will commit to working hard , stay dedicated , be coachable and bust his butt in the off season , he might just be able to help us win some varsity games down the road his jr or sr year.

If I were the parent of a jv player my concern would not be how many games we won or what posistion my son played. (Even though we all want to win and we will try our best). My concern would be that my son got great instruction in the game. Was surrounded by other young men that wanted to work hard. And he was developing in the game.

So stretchy yes. The programs that develop their young players and give them alot of instruction will be the varsity programs that have success on a consistent basis. But they may or may not win alot of games at the jv level.

 

In Charlotte, you will find the better Varsity teams have very good JV teams as well. The schools that struggle at the Varsity level have weak JV's, too. In fact, many of them struggle fielding a JV team.

Literally, there are schools in Charlotte that could field two competitive teams, while others struggle to get players to come out. All one has to do is to look at the schools enrollment to determine which one's. A school that is populated with 3,000 students has a better opportunity to find athletes versus a school of 900...and that's what you will find in Charlotte.

You can imagine the problems a "baseball school" with a large enrollment has when there are only 15 -16 players on the roster and they have 90-100 players (and I mean kids that can play the game) come out for tryouts. There are going to be some hurt feelings, shouts of politics and every other negative comments directed at the program.

This is why some have suggested that those players that are cut be allowed to tryout at schools less fortunate. I know that is not a popular suggestion, but HS baseball in Charlotte is unique and I hate to see kids that can play the game not get an opportunity to continue their dream of playing HS baseball.

 

I happen to believe that since the JV program is the key to the future of the program as a whole that they are very important. I agree that success or a lack of success in terms of wins and losses has little bearing on the wins and losses of the varsity program. However, the important things is how much do the younger players learn in terms of fundamentals and how much experience can they gain from playing JV. The way I approach this is to look at the makeup of our Varsity team. For a young player to be on the varsity team, he has to be able to contribute, not sit on the bench. We teach all players the same system, so we want them to get as much playing time as possible. For example a Fr/Soph that is a pitcher only on varsity may get at bats and position time on the JV when he is not needed on Varsity that day.

The important thing on the JV level is to develop players for the future, and to develop them to fit the roles we need whether immediate or future.

 

Wealth of info on TBR

Great feedback guys. Hope it helps someone since I have no more kids playing. Thanks.

 

Hey stretchy!! You know there are soooooooooo many great opinions on TBR... So I decided to add my 2 cents worth just to hang out with the guys!!

Hope to see you down the road this season!!

 

Coach 26 tops Coach 27...Let the fun begin

Let me add my 98 cents to that to make you the dollar man.....I enjoyed your JV feedback and think that is the right approach.

 

There's a first time for everything.... been too long since that happened!! Too much talent at SG!

 

Coach

Now thats funny. You guys have handed to us many times over the years. I just hope we can play 7 innings with the Rockets this year. I used to wear #26. But after I met coach Evans and he took us to the woodshed so many times I had to change my number. I realized I was not worthy of it. Please Coach take it easy on us this coming season. Too much talent at SG? Come on Stretchy you got to back me up on this one. Seriously this could be a tough season. So many holes to fill. So many question marks. Im still waiting on some of those transfers to come.