<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (December 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> Junior varsity (often called "JV") players are the members of a team who are not the main players in a competition (such as any football, basketball, or baseball game), usually at the high school and college levels in the United States . The main players comprise the varsity team . Although the intensity of the JV team may vary from place to place, most junior varsity teams consist of players who 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 freshman / 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 . </P> <P> 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, or much smaller schools where - due to their low enrollment - are limited in the number of upperclassmen athletes . </P> <P> 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 . The NCAA previously prohibited true freshmen from playing varsity college football and basketball; as a result, numerous junior - varsity "freshmen teams" appeared on many major college campuses . The NCAA repealed this limitation in the 1970s; to the extent that junior varsity teams exist at the college level, many are classified as club squads . </P>

What's the difference between jv and varsity volleyball