Everyone Should have the Chance to Shine at Sports Awards

I remember a couple of years ago when Sophomore Lily Griffin, a member of the JV girls soccer team, informed me that her team had been undefeated for two years. I was in shock because I hadn’t known this fact because, well, it was not acknowledged by the school. 

Usually, every high school has Varsity teams along with Junior Varsity teams—where the Junior Varsity teammates work to become a Varsity player or maybe play because they just want to have fun; the reasons differ.

After every sports season, MacDuffie holds sports awards where all the team players and coaches get dressed up and can receive awards: Coach’s choice, Most Valuable Player, Most Improved, and Team Players’ Choice award. But the Varsity teams receive these awards—Junior Varsity does not.

There is a JV team for almost all MacDuffie sports such as soccer and basketball. These teams usually practice the same number of days a week: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and sometimes even Friday. And this doesn’t count the number of games that are played. These Junior Varsity teams put in the same amount of effort and work as the Varsity teams. The only difference is that their team is called, “Junior Varsity” and not “Varsity.”

I am a student-athlete at The MacDuffie School who has attended MacDuffie for four years. Within these four years, I have been a part of multiple Junior Varsity teams such as the girl’s basketball team and soccer team. Personally, after being a part of these two teams, I felt that my JV teams weren’t acknowledged for all their hard work throughout the season.

JV teams still play the sports and the sports awards are the time for the teams to be recognized, not just the varsity teams. Sports awards are fun because it’s a time where student-athletes dress up and take pictures and celebrate the sport. But it just isn’t as meaningful when awards aren’t given out to the JV teams.

The sports awards are a time for the sports teams to be acknowledged regardless if you are on Varsity or Junior Varsity. Although the skill set and level of competition differ throughout the teams, each team should be celebrated and commended for their efforts; they should have the opportunity to receive awards.