Junior varsity team Junior varsity ( often called " JV " , sometimes spelled out phonetically as Jayvee ) players are the members of a team who are not the main players in a competition ( such as a football , basketball , or baseball game ) , usually at the high school and college levels in the United States and Canada . The main players comprise the varsity team . Nearly all junior varsity players are in their freshman and sophomore years in school , though occasionally upperclassmen may play on JV teams . For this reason , junior varsity teams are also often called junior / sophomore teams . Especially skilled or physically mature freshmen and sophomores may compete at the varsity level . Some private school associations may permit very skilled seventh - or eighth - graders to compete on varsity teams . At larger schools , there may be two junior varsity teams for some sports , with a lower - level team typically consisting only of freshmen . Junior varsity players . Members of a junior varsity team are underclassmen determined by the coaching staff to have less experience or ability than those on the varsity roster . As such , junior varsity teams are used to prepare these athletes to compete at the varsity level . In other schools , the line between JV and varsity is arbitrary , with all players at a certain grade level ( usually seniors and , in smaller schools , juniors ) at varsity and all others below that grade level at JV , with only a few exceptions for highly talented ( or well - connected ) student athletes . Some teams require participation on a junior varsity team before being eligible to try out for a varsity team . These players can provide the varsity team with extra depth , with their service as back - up players . Many sports teams have assistant coaches responsible for developing the talent of junior varsity players . When they play . A coach may call on one or more junior varsity players during a varsity game , especially when a varsity player is injured , is not performing well , or ( because of a violation ) is disqualified from further competition . If a junior varsity player does well , they will see more playing time in the future or may even get moved up to the varsity level . A team will have many talented players , but the coach is unable to come up with a rotation that allows everyone to play . The decision of when to play junior varsity players in a one - sided game is often at the coach ' s discretion . This depends on the coach ' s strategy , the time remaining in the game , the point margin , and the game situation . The coach of a losing team — especially if the players are not very good or they are inexperienced players — sometimes may continue to play the main players against the winning team ' s junior varsity players to give the team experience . When the winning team is ahead by a substantial margin late in the game , the coaches of both the winning and losing teams may " empty their benches " . In other words , they remove the varsity players and play the junior varsity players for the remainder of the game . The junior varsity players can impress coaches during this " garbage time " in hopes of gaining more playing time in subsequent games , while at the same time reducing the risk of serious injury by varsity players by resting them in a game whose outcome has been effectively decided . Which sports . Some games have rules which allow unlimited use of junior varsity players , such as basketball . Other sports have different ways of determining junior varsity participants . For instance , in high school wrestling , there can only be one wrestler competing for a team at a particular weight class in a given varsity match . The team ' s representative is often determined by a " challenge match , " in which the top two wrestlers at that weight compete for the right to participate in the varsity match . The loser wrestles that night ' s junior varsity match . A similar format is used for golf and tennis , with players who lose to varsity opponents participating in the junior varsity part of the meet . Junior varsity games . Junior varsity games are specially - scheduled events in which junior varsity players play to gain skills and experience . These games may be played immediately before a varsity contest ; or if a school has a sophomore or freshman team , the junior varsity game will take place on another night or , in some cases , an off - peak time slot such as Saturday morning . Records and statistics are kept for the junior varsity team , and some leagues offer a junior varsity championship . An assistant coach acts as the head coach for these games . In some sports , such as tennis and golf , a junior varsity meet will take place simultaneously with the varsity event ; however , the scores are separately tabulated . In track and field , a junior varsity " heat " of a particular event may take place either before or after the varsity " heat " ( again , implementing separate tabulation of meet results ) . An underclassman who plays on a junior varsity team one year is expected to gain enough experience to be one of the varsity players the next season . A team ' s head coach will attend a junior varsity games to evaluate skill and decide if a player is ready to play in the main part of a varsity game . Junior varsity teams may or may not travel with or take the field / court with the varsity team , or in particularly well - organized hierarchies ( especially in sports such as football ) may alternate home and away schedules with the varsity squad to ensure at least one of the two teams plays at home each week . This is often dependent on the size of the varsity team , availability of transportation and policies invoked by either the coach , school or league . A JV can sometimes completely replace a varsity team in a game with little to no importance . Slang terms . Slang terms for junior varsity players include :