High School Jv Vs Varsity

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Nikki Moore

Cheer Parent
Mar 23, 2016
263
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So what really decides whether you compete JV or Varsity?

We competed against a JV team who got one of the highest scores in the entire comp - above even the majority of the Varsity teams. It might have been the highest - unless their Varsity Co-Ed team got higher and there was one other team that looked almost like a Level 5 team as well.
This JV team could have easily competed in the Varsity div and won - their score was that high.

I don't think we go against them again but it does make it tough when your JV team barely has BHS's and another team is able to do fulls.

Can they compete Varsity if they wanted - is there anything restricting them?
 
So what really decides whether you compete JV or Varsity?

We competed against a JV team who got one of the highest scores in the entire comp - above even the majority of the Varsity teams. It might have been the highest - unless their Varsity Co-Ed team got higher and there was one other team that looked almost like a Level 5 team as well.
This JV team could have easily competed in the Varsity div and won - their score was that high.

I don't think we go against them again but it does make it tough when your JV team barely has BHS's and another team is able to do fulls.

Can they compete Varsity if they wanted - is there anything restricting them?
In our district, age is the distinction. The JV team is only for freshmen and sophomores and the Varsity team is for the most talented athletes freshmen-senior. I've never seen a school compete two Varsity teams, so I don't even know if that's possible in our district. At the end of the day, JV teams are typically a little weaker than Varsity teams, but not always. The most talented programs have JV teams that are pretty close or even equal in skill to the Varsity teams - check out some of the programs that attend UCA.
 
In our district, age is the distinction. The JV team is only for freshmen and sophomores and the Varsity team is for the most talented athletes freshmen-senior. I've never seen a school compete two Varsity teams, so I don't even know if that's possible in our district. At the end of the day, JV teams are typically a little weaker than Varsity teams, but not always. The most talented programs have JV teams that are pretty close or even equal in skill to the Varsity teams - check out some of the programs that attend UCA.

They did have a Varsity Co-Ed competing at the same comp - could a team have a Varsity and Varsity Co-Ed?
There were only a few schools that had both a JV and Varsity at the comp.
One JV Co-Ed team had a Varsity team and the JV team - the one guy had a standing full. I don't remember if the Varsity team did (though they did take first)

Our JV and Varsity - I think you have to compete Varsity if you're a Senior. We have two freshmen on the Varsity squad but JV is made up of Freshmen through Junior I guess. They wanted fulls for Varsity but I think the best we have on our Varsity might be a layout. Though they do standing tucks..

On another note - this was the first time I've been to an actual HS comp - I've seen some on TV before. But every time some team did fulls, the entire crowd was amazed. It's interesting the diff watching All-Star vs HS.. Also noticed very few teams did anything after jumps - and it was only 3 jumps - I've gotten used to 4 jumps in a row with something after it.
 
They did have a Varsity Co-Ed competing at the same comp - could a team have a Varsity and Varsity Co-Ed?
There were only a few schools that had both a JV and Varsity at the comp.
One JV Co-Ed team had a Varsity team and the JV team - the one guy had a standing full. I don't remember if the Varsity team did (though they did take first)

Our JV and Varsity - I think you have to compete Varsity if you're a Senior. We have two freshmen on the Varsity squad but JV is made up of Freshmen through Junior I guess. They wanted fulls for Varsity but I think the best we have on our Varsity might be a layout. Though they do standing tucks..

On another note - this was the first time I've been to an actual HS comp - I've seen some on TV before. But every time some team did fulls, the entire crowd was amazed. It's interesting the diff watching All-Star vs HS.. Also noticed very few teams did anything after jumps - and it was only 3 jumps - I've gotten used to 4 jumps in a row with something after it.
I have no idea if they could compete two varsity teams in your district. I really doubt it, especially if they're considered a sport rather than a club.

You're in Atlanta, right? Get used to seeing amazing high school teams, both JV and Varsity. The teams down there are INSANE.
 
My Sophomore and Junior year we competed two teams at the Varsity level. Granted, the only competitions that we competed in were the KSHAA Regional and State competitions. The teams were divided by skill level ( despite the fact that this was never technically said by the coaches) and had a mix of girls from Freshman to Senior. One team competed in the Super Large division (30+ on the mat I think) and Medium (12 on the mat,I think). The Super Large team was comprised of mostly Varsity Athletes and had basically full squad tucks. The Medium team was made of mostly JV girls and had mixed tumbling from Tucks to no tumbling at all. Both squads were All-Girl and my Sophomore year both teams won in their divisions at Regionals and advanced to state. That year, all of the JV girls technically lettered in Cheer because we were entered into competitions at the Varsity level and we were never technically called JV.
 
So yes, I hear this. Large JV at UCA HS nationals had a few teams that did not send a "varsity" team, only sent JV's and they were very good. I have less of a problem if JV is still strong with a strong varsity, but when there is no Varsity, the team would fare well in the varsity category and they are only entering a JV, it's crazy! Now, that is very hard to police b/c there is no skill requirement for JV but in a way they could by grade.. I know some people have seniors compete JV but there could be a rule only 10 - 15% of athletes can be seniors. A team of 12 could have no more then 2 (rounding up) a team of 25 could have no more then 4?

I know in other sports, seniors can't play on JV at all, so that also could be a possibility - but let's face it this is cheer and you have a dedicated kid w/o the skills you want to give her a chance and cheer is so different then other sports b/c you can't just give 2 minutes of playing time a game to keep involved, you're either in or out.
 
With All-Star cheer, I'd say that being a Senior wouldn't make you any more skilled than a Freshmen ;)
Since Stingrays is in the area, I'm sure the skill level is there for a lot of the high schools. I heard some parents behind me talking about what All-Star gym they were at...

I am curious about the JV team for this school - this school is the biggest high school in our county with about 3500 students (and our HS is pretty big with 3k and we're only 5th in the county) and has always done well - even in Rec cheer - if they will eventually compete in Varsity. Otherwise, they are just going to blow-out all of the JV teams in the area.

Edited - Went through the Georgia HS rules and it says you can only enter one Varsity team and there are specific rules about how many comps they can compete in for JV vs Varsity..
 
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With All-Star cheer, I'd say that being a Senior wouldn't make you any more skilled than a Freshmen ;)
Since Stingrays is in the area, I'm sure the skill level is there for a lot of the high schools. I heard some parents behind me talking about what All-Star gym they were at...

I am curious about the JV team for this school - this school is the biggest high school in our county with about 3500 students (and our HS is pretty big with 3k and we're only 5th in the county) and has always done well - even in Rec cheer - if they will eventually compete in Varsity. Otherwise, they are just going to blow-out all of the JV teams in the area.
I guess I see no reason why they would compete in Varsity. If they're a JV team and follow the JV age guidelines/rules, why would they level up? Just because the other teams can't compete with them?
 
I guess I see no reason why they would compete in Varsity. If they're a JV team and follow the JV age guidelines/rules, why would they level up? Just because the other teams can't compete with them?

Yea - I'm not sure they even are allowed to if they've already turned in their comp schedule..
But I know at least for club sports - if they aren't getting the comp at their level, they will move up. There was a SB travel team this past year who was a 10U team (meaning you had to be 10 or younger as of a certain date) - so they had 11, 10 and 9 year olds. They killed every other 10U team they played so they started playing up in the 12U division (against 13, 12, and 11 year olds) and they only lost 2 games (by maybe 1 run each time). (They really were undefeated except for those 2 games - they were that good.
But if you're killing teams at your level, you'd want a challenge.
 
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