“I just felt like I wasn’t good enough for the team,” Caroline Brown, a ninth grader on the junior varsity (JV) volleyball team, admitted when recalling her experience from preseason in September. Including Caroline, there were 45 athletes trying out for the team. On the last day of tryouts, after the rosters had come out, Caroline was invited to play with the varsity team. She thought, “maybe they will put me on [varsity], maybe they don’t…When the teams officially came out, a girl came up to me, sounding condescending, and said, ‘You made JV, that’s really impressive,’ but the way she said it just didn’t sound right.”

Due to the stigma around JV teams, the sports community propagates the myth that junior varsity players have low sports IQs and are unable to adapt, according to JV boys basketball coach Mike Barnes. The stigma impacts JV players like Brown in negative ways: “I was embarrassed, but I was happy to be on any team because I know a lot of people were cut from JV.” In reality, “the only [difference between JV and varsity sports], if that, is the speed of the game… JV players are just as skilled as varsity players and vice versa,” said Coach Barnes. 

However, despite feeling inferior to varsity players, Brown noted that JV sports are full of benefits and rewarding experiences. “Having a JV team gives more kids an opportunity to play sports,” says Spencer Mitchell, a ninth grader on the JV boys basketball team. “[JV] is a very fun experience. We have a very close relationship with everybody from having practice every day and traveling to games.” This bonding during practices and games fosters meaningful friendships between players. According to Coach Barnes, “the JV level has its own kind of community. You can just see the camaraderie between the players… and the whole sportsmanship aspect of it.”

JV teams also give students an opportunity to represent their school. Even though JV teams receive less attention than varsity ones, when the Riverdale community attends JV games, players feel supported and seen by their school. “A lot of people come to our basketball games [which] strengthens the community and brings everyone together,” says Mitchell.

Additionally, JV teams work to improve future varsity teams because, according to Mitchell, “[JV] gets people ready for the intensity of varsity sports.” Younger athletes are able to play their sport and refine their skills so that when their opportunity to try out for varsity comes, they will have more playing experience. 

Regardless of these benefits, the stigma around JV teams is still quite present across Riverdale Athletics and can have unfortunate effects on some players. However, on the JV boys basketball team, they “use [the stigma] as a motivational piece. ‘You guys are JV, you are lesser.’ We use that to motivate and get those reps, get that speed, get that knowledge and velocity,” says Coach Barnes. While these stigmas helped to motivate the team to improve, and some argue the stigma has positive effects on JV teams, motivation should originate from a player's personal goals instead of expectations imposed by others. In other words, teams should have a growth mindset focused on improving for improvement’s sake, rather than being preoccupied with proving some stigma wrong. 

A growth mindset would also change the preconception that a student should not try out for a sport simply because they are “not good enough,” and replace it with “not good enough, yet.” This mentality encourages students to try out for new sports because it presents the opportunity to grow and potentially make varsity. As Svetlana Whitener, a certified emotional intelligence expert, wrote, “those with a growth mindset are more likely to embrace challenges, use feedback, and learn from failures and mistakes rather than dwell on them.”

Coach Barnes reflected on this point, noting, “I enjoy coming to work every day to see these guys, but it could be better. It's a learning experience. I love preparing them for the next level.” If the growth mindset that recognizes the benefits of JV teams becomes the collective mentality of Riverdale athletes, Riverdale will produce stronger, more resilient teams, since students will no longer have to cope with the stigma around JV sports, which prevents many from trying out. If we switch this mentality, more students and faculty will increasingly view JV teams as equal to varsity ones, ensuring the much-needed justice for JV athletes.