Anonymous wrote:

HS sports don't matter. Club matters. Let him choose.

HS sports matter a lot if you are in high school. Not every effort is about college.

+100 since all but a minuscule % ever play beyond high school.

I had this choice as a HS freshman and chose to play varsity. The choice was mostly beneficial, but there were a few drawbacks.

Good:
I did receive significant playing time on varsity.
Experienced rapid overall improvement
Greater overall confidence
It put me on the radar of D1 coaches
More attention from girls

Bad:
Much greater time commitment on top of a heavy academic load. It was brutal.
I excelled at things I was naturally good at, but I feel that my skill development would have been more well rounded had I stayed with JV.

I ended up being a top 100 ranked player in my class and that early exposure played big factor.

My sophomore is a floater on both teams. On the weeks he plays on varsity he sits out of the JV game. Have him talk to the coaches.

As a sophomore my daughter landed squarely on the JV team while her friend was bumped up to varsity. That girl saw very little playing time and lost a lot of love for the sport riding the bench while wishing she could be with her friends who played much more (and had a better season too.) Junior year they are now all varsity and this girl is still not seeing as much playing time. The kids who grabbed the limelight in JV last year moved up and the coach was anxious to watch them. Friend is just background. She says she will not be returning to the team next year and plans to play club level only.

The position played is also a factor. Sometimes, a player is pulled up to give some depth to the position. A better JV player may remain JV because there is enough depth at varsity.

Also, from my observation, high school girls tend to lose interest in sports as they get older.

As a sophomore my daughter landed squarely on the JV team while her friend was bumped up to varsity. That girl saw very little playing time and lost a lot of love for the sport riding the bench while wishing she could be with her friends who played much more (and had a better season too.) Junior year they are now all varsity and this girl is still not seeing as much playing time. The kids who grabbed the limelight in JV last year moved up and the coach was anxious to watch them. Friend is just background. She says she will not be returning to the team next year and plans to play club level only.

HS sports don't matter. Club matters. Let him choose.

HS sports matter a lot if you are in high school. Not every effort is about college.

Anonymous wrote:HS sports don't matter. Club matters. Let him choose.

This depends on the sport.

For my kid's sport (football), there is no club level competition in this area.

Have DC decide. This is reenforcing the FAR bigger issue - that this is DC's decision, for good, or for bad. There is no crystal ball. Kids need to start owning these decisions. This is totally age appropriate. By involving you, you will be more emotionally invested than you should be. Big picture here, people.

Anonymous wrote:If you are practicing with varsity over jv, you will be developing more skills. But, again, I find it odd that there is a choice. That is very unusual in our experience.

+1. Same for our experience. Different schools and sports must handle things differently. There would not have been a choice situation at our DC's school. If you were selected for Varsity you were rostered to Varsity.

If you are practicing with varsity over jv, you will be developing more skills. But, again, I find it odd that there is a choice. That is very unusual in our experience.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Varsity. I would want the experience of playing for the varsity coach.

I have never heard of such an offer. In our school JV and Varsity are one program the head coach decides where you play.

Just curious if some the of posters with the strongest feelings about choosing JV have younger kids. Our experience was exactly like PP's. Varsity trumps JV and in some sports turning down the Varsity offer can end up being a problem later on. What's wrong with being a sub for one season? Normally the Varsity coaches and players are much stronger than JV so the experience provides much more learning than on JV even without a lot of playing time. DC will learn lots as a sophomore then be ready to step right in next season as an upperclassman who already knows the coach and other players.

Sounds like the coaches realize that op's son is going to get very little playing time on varsity and therefore are giving him the option.

My niece is now a d1 athlete in another sport. She was the only freshman to make the high school varsity team. She saw almost no playing time while her friends got way more playing time. She was miserable and wished things had worked out differently. By senior year, several of the other girls were considered "better" than her (i.e. were picked for higher level outside teams, all-county and all-state awards). Who knows how things would be different if she had played jv as a freshman.

+1. I think a lot of this will depend on the coaches involved. If you don't get playing time, you can only develop so much. Is the Varsity coach the type who will recognize that your child has been largely riding the bench this year and reward him with more playing time next year, even if some then-stronger players come up from JV? Or is he just going to give the spots to the strongest players? A year in JV where your child gets to start and has lots of playing time may do more for his development than sitting as a sub.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Varsity. I would want the experience of playing for the varsity coach.

I have never heard of such an offer. In our school JV and Varsity are one program the head coach decides where you play.

Just curious if some the of posters with the strongest feelings about choosing JV have younger kids. Our experience was exactly like PP's. Varsity trumps JV and in some sports turning down the Varsity offer can end up being a problem later on. What's wrong with being a sub for one season? Normally the Varsity coaches and players are much stronger than JV so the experience provides much more learning than on JV even without a lot of playing time. DC will learn lots as a sophomore then be ready to step right in next season as an upperclassman who already knows the coach and other players.

Sounds like the coaches realize that op's son is going to get very little playing time on varsity and therefore are giving him the option.

My niece is now a d1 athlete in another sport. She was the only freshman to make the high school varsity team. She saw almost no playing time while her friends got way more playing time. She was miserable and wished things had worked out differently. By senior year, several of the other girls were considered "better" than her (i.e. were picked for higher level outside teams, all-county and all-state awards). Who knows how things would be different if she had played jv as a freshman.

Anonymous wrote:Varsity. I would want the experience of playing for the varsity coach.

I have never heard of such an offer. In our school JV and Varsity are one program the head coach decides where you play.

Just curious if some the of posters with the strongest feelings about choosing JV have younger kids. Our experience was exactly like PP's. Varsity trumps JV and in some sports turning down the Varsity offer can end up being a problem later on. What's wrong with being a sub for one season? Normally the Varsity coaches and players are much stronger than JV so the experience provides much more learning than on JV even without a lot of playing time. DC will learn lots as a sophomore then be ready to step right in next season as an upperclassman who already knows the coach and other players.

Anonymous wrote:HS sports don't matter. Club matters. Let him choose.

Actually, none of it "matters." Op, I'd have him join i'v so he gets more playing time and meets new kids.

JV.

He'll learn more and have the fun of being the star. There are two more years to be on varsity.

of course, his call.