Without spring season, importance of JV comes to forefront

Junior varsity is almost seen as a scarlet letter in high school sports. At least it was when I was in high school six years ago.

Nobody strived to play for the JV team — it was varsity or bust. The JV team was always the B squad, filled with those who were “not good enough” for the big leagues, or so I thought.

The reality is JV gives players the opportunity to hone their skills and become better players and leaders. The JV team is a proving ground that can bring out the best in an athlete, motivating them to jump to varsity.

Now facing new challenges with the cancellation of spring sports due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the importance of the JV experience will start to become more evident as spring sports athletes lose a season of coaching.

For programs such as

Elyria’s softball team, which features nine seniors on a 14player roster, the current junior varsity team is going to see a lot of playing time in 2021.

The Pioneers’ roster features several seniors who were at one point on the JV roster, like starting left fielder Mallory Phares.

She spent much of her freshman year playing JV for Elyria before being called up shortly before the playoffs.

“I think the best thing for me was my freshman year I started out on JV and I think that really helped me shape into a good player,” Phares said. “Then I got called up to varsity right before the playoffs and all of the sudden I was starting. I think that really helped shape me over the years.”

Phares and her teammates finished that season as state champions and in her next two seasons, she became an integral part of the Pioneers’ success, finishing her career as a .421 hitter.

The senior will continue her softball career at Tiffin University in the spring of 2021.

Now players who are in the same spot that Phares was in three years ago will be thrown into the fire missing a year of valuable coaching and playing time.

“In my situation, I’ve never had this many seniors. But there’s going to be a huge dip next year without these kids getting the experience and coaching they need,” Elyria head coach Ken Fenik said. “A lot of these kids won’t even play this summer. So it’s going to be about who’s got the dedication to work on their own and to hit on their own. That’s going to be the big key.”

With the OHSAA’s nocontact period being extended until May 31, players and coaches are prohibited from meeting in person. So even if players looking to make up for lost time want to meet up with their coaches, they would not be able to at the risk of losing eligibility.

And who really knows what the post COVID-19 landscape may look like. Gov. Mike DeWine announced May 7 most of the businesses in the state will be opening up in the coming weeks, but social distancing guidelines remain in place.

That problem only becomes worse for players in contact sports such as football, which has already been impacted with preseason conditioning being knocked off schedule due to the pandemic.

The OHSAA has encouraged coaches to maintain contact with players electronically, which many area teams have, including softball powers Elyria and Keystone.

Coaches can only teach so much in a zoom call. With the status of summer and fall leagues still up in the air, JV players will be forced to work on their games by themselves until things return back to normal, whenever that may be.