As tryouts approach, potential varsity basketball players have voiced their disinterest in playing if they do not make the varsity team, ultimately creating a void in both leadership and skill on the junior varsity team.

“With all the work I’ve put into my game, it would be an insult if I don’t make the team,” Kyle Peters (11) said. “I’ve dedicated so much time, I’d be so upset.”

The season brings more than just playing basketball, it also keeps players in shape as well as helping them build friendships with the teammates. But some players say they don’t need to be on the team in order to have that.

“If I don’t make the team, I’ll take it as a year to work on my skills and make sure I make it next year,” C.J. Coyle (10) said.

Until games start, practices are six days a week, two hours a day. After the season begins, there are usually three practices and three games a week, that racks up to about more than 60 practices and about 20 games. That leaves significantly less time for schoolwork.

“All the work this school has, it’s very time-consuming doing both school and basketball,” Luca Sullivan (10) said. “Another year of JV doesn’t seem worth it to me.”

If multiple people who are picked to play junior varsity quit, that leaves the team with not only fewer players, but also less talent.

“I get the team would need me, but I play basketball because I want to make something out of it,” Peters said. “I’ve never heard of scouts going to a JV game.”

By Bennett Kent