In sports, usually at the high school and college levels, members of a team who are not the main players in a competition (such as a football or basketball game) are called junior varsity players. The main players – those perceived to have the most ability and skills – comprise the varsity team.

Who junior varsity players are

---

Often, members of a junior varsity team are underclassmen and other players who are perceived to have less ability than members of the varsity team. However, the latter definition is often inaccurate and unfair, especially since many "junior varsity" players work just as hard in practice as a team's varsity players. Sometimes, a team will have many talented players, and a coach is unable to come up with a rotation that allows everyone to play.

Many varsity teams have assistant coaches, one of more of whom may be responsible for developing the talent of junior varsity players.

When they play

---

Junior varsity players – especially in football and basketball – often will play at the end of a one-sided game where the outcome has been decided. However, this is not always the case, as some of these players sometimes see more action.

Frequently, a coach will sometimes call on one or more junior varsity players at a point in the game, especially when a star player is injured, is not performing well, or (because of a violation) is disqualified from further competition. If a junior varsity player does well, he/she will often see more playing time in a future game.

The decision of when to play junior varsity players in a one-sided game is often at the coach's discretion; this depends on his/her strategy, the time remaining in the game, the point margin, and the situation. Sometimes, the coach of a losing team – especially if they are not that good or have many inexperienced players – will continue to play his main players against the winning team's junior varsity players to give his team experience.

However, if for instance in a basketball game, if the winning team is ahead by 30 points with three minutes left in the game, fans can usually expect the coaches of both the winning and losing teams to "empty their benches" – that is, remove the main players and play junior varsity players for the remainder of the game.

Other sports

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 in a given night's 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 may be used for sports such as golf and tennis, with players who lose to varsity opponents participating in the junior varsity part of the meet.

Junior varsity games

---

Junior varsity players often play in specially-scheduled events (called junior varsity games) to gain skills and experience. Sometimes, these games are played immediately before a varsity contest; or if a school has a sophomore team, the junior varsity game will take place on another night. An assistant coach often 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, separate tabulation of meet results).

Quite often, an underclassman who plays on a junior varsity team one year gains enough experience to be one of the main players the next season. A team's head coach will often attend a junior varsity game to evaluate talent and decide if a player is ready to play in the main part of a varsity game.

Slang terms

---

Slang terms for junior varsity players include:

• Jay-vees, short for "junior varsity."
• "Mop-up players", with their playing time called "mop-up time" or "garbage minutes."
• Players who "ride the pines", since they spend most of the game on the bench.
• "Second-stringers" (and third-, fourth-stringers, etc.); compared to a game's starters and top substitutes, who comprise the first-string. In football, however, a second-string is often as talented as the first-string, with a perceived drop-off in playing ability for lower strings (although sometimes a third- or lower string may also be able to easily outplay a really weak team's first string).
• Scrubs, considered a derogatory term by some.

The act of a coach inserting junior varsity players into a game is often called "emptying the bench."

See also

---

Varsity team

Sports terminology