Ball players often wonder how to move from their JV team to the Varsity team. I want to try to take the mystery out of it for you. If you are not on your varsity team, there’s a reason. You aren’t on varsity because that team needs certain things from its members that you still need to develop. What you need to do is figure out what those things are and then create a plan to close the gap. You have to get better at the things your team needs from its players to earn a spot.
The first step to varsity is to know what your team needs. You need to know specific things about your team and you need to know certain things more generally about your sport. Finally you need to know your most likely role on the varsity team and the gaps that need to be closed to allow you to fill that role.
Now that you know these things you’ll need to examine your own knowledge, skillset, strengths, and weaknesses. Your actual physical skills in the sport matter. A coach will very rarely have any use for a player with little to no ball handling ability. If you can’t catch then you’ll have issues. If you can’t dribble or pass, same. If you don’t make most of your layups, well, it matters. Your running speed matters. Your conditioning matters, etc.
Ask for Direction the Right Way
Here’s what i suggest for a JV player looking to move up to varsity. Ask the varsity coach what position they think you would probably play for varsity. Then ask them something like the following:
“if i had 30 minutes to work each day, what drill/activity would you recommend I do until i perfect it?”
If you get an answer, ask the same question again for a second item. Two items is plenty. Doing two items involves you putting in an hour or so each day doing specific actions to improve. Simply do those two items until you do perfect them. Once you have nailed those items ask the coach for a chance to show your progress. Be sure to ask the coach if they have ideas to sharpen you up on those 1 or 2 things. If not, ask for a couple more things to work on. Repeat.
Now, the truth is that many varsity coaches have forgotten how much work it takes a newcomer to get going at a sport. Additionally, they don’t know if they are wasting their time if they spend it “giving you ideas” you’ll never enact. For this reason they may seemingly blow you off with an exchange that looks like “Hey coach, what can i work on to have a shot to make the varsity team?” and their response is “Everything is a good thing to work on.”
To reduce the chances of this reaction ask them a better question. Saying “what would be useful to improve at” feels VERY open ended and makes them have to choose between a bunch of roughly equal options which no one wants to do. Why? because to be honest you really probably do stink at almost everything! Instead say “what’s a specific activity i can do to get better”. Then they can honestly pick just about any random drill or favorite work out and see if you’re for real. It doesn’t require a huge investment from them or for them to choose priorities unnecessarily – and it gives you something to focus on.
Example Interaction
A couple of days after varsity and jv assignments were announced one of my JV players asked “Coach, is there room for more players on varsity?”
I said “Yes. We’ll be on the lookout all season for players that earn a spot to come help out the varsity team.”
She replied with “What do i need to work on to try to get a spot?”
Great question! But i didn’t have an answer!!! I felt so bad! My daughter told me she had the exact same discussion with her new high school coach over the summer (moving from 8th grade to high school) – and he was almost worthlessly vague. So I considered for a few seconds and I said, “Let me answer that for you tomorrow. Make sure you ask me again if i don’t come find you.”
The next day i had not done my all my homework and she asked again! At that moment a couple of things hit me. First, this is very important to this player. Second, what i really want as a coach is players who want to win, want to compete, want to work, and here i am not able to tell someone what they need to do to be exactly what i want! Uncool coach! So, I punted one more time and said “you know what, I’m going to make a plan just for you” and i’ll bring it tomorrow. Then I took a half hour or so that evening to think of the things I’d need to see from her to give her a thought as a varsity player. I wrote those things down and then came up some things she can do on her own to help those things happen.
Before the next practice I showed the concept and the list to another coach to get her opinion on it. It was titled “Izzy’s Varsity Plan”. The other coach said, “we need to make this available to everyone!” I was hesitant to share with everyone because i almost felt like Izzy had earned the right to it by asking for it while no one else had – if they wanted this info they should ask themselves!
It was meant to be personalized, but this coach felt like everyone would benefit. I thought it over and then it hit me – I remembered that these are middle school girls who haven’t really developed the skills and maturity to know the right questions to ask to get the information they didn’t realize they actually needed! Some didn’t even know this was a legit question to ask! And, by the way, this isn’t the case for just middle school girls! I agreed to share it with everyone and we sat the whole team down, read it out loud, and then emailed it to the team. Here’s the email, slightly adjusted from it’s original form:
Varsity play against other well prepared players requires that you have certain skills. Those looking to play varsity can really focus on improving in the following ways: * Compete, always * Make layups at full speed most of time * Shoot Over 60% ft (50% starting goal) * Become a scoring threat within offense (look to score) * Play excellent man-defense on the ball * Know the offense and every play * Know the basics of defense(s) the team runs * Be strong enough to throw passes correctly * Be on time * Be accountable and hold teammates accountable * Be comfortable with ball while guarded Here's some ideas of how to get there: 1. Make 150 shots per day 20 form shots very close to basket, 10 each hash + elbow (80), 20 Mikan, 10 middle of lane/paint, 5 each short corner, 20 FreeThrows NOTE: If it takes too long to make all these, don't get frustrated! Cut the numbers in half and add 1 make to each spot every day. After two weeks you'll be doing the full workout and it will get really fast as you improve! 2. Practice your ball handling Do the warmups we do every day on your own a couple of times a day Practice dribbling while moving around Dribble dancing / dribbling to music (ANY KIND) is really useful. Try to bounce the ball on the beat. Good luck and Happy Hoopin! Coach Josh
If you pay close attention you can see that over half of what i mentioned was effort / attitude. If you keep those attitudes in mind and then do the skill development, over a few weeks it will take you a long way. Do i think everyone on the JV team will do the work listed here? Nope, but that’s why they are JV and that’s why they’ll stay there, and that’s okay. But I think Izzy will do the work. She’s already replied with another message asking me for a list of all the plays. As a coach I am happy to answer specific “what specifically can I do to get better” questions all day long. Especially if i see you’re actually doing it after asking.
So what can you do? Ask you coach for ideas! Then do what they suggest if they give you something specific! If they don’t, then try the list above or try working through the various belt / degrees of the ball dojo method. I STRONGLY suggest getting your coach’s advice first because THEY are your target audience and if they will actively engage with you then you are really getting a leg up. But if they are the busy type, unwilling or unable to give specific guidance, then we’re here for you. Good luck!
Update
I didn’t put it in the list when I sent it out to my players, but I’d strongly consider adding “Develop sport specific agility and strength” in the topic section of the email. And i’d provide specific drills to match the sport.
So for my basketball team we’d be talking about some body weight exercises (pushups, jumpups, squats) as well as body control exercises (A-skips, line jumps, etc).
And probably some simple sport specific movement drills like the “lane drill” where we start at a block, sprint to same side elbow, slide to opposite elbow, back peddle to block, slide to opposite block, and then return in opposite direction. Focus on form and speed intermittently. Do it with and without a basketball! Lot’s of work in that one drill!
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