I love junior varsity sports. Don’t get me wrong, varsity is an honor and a blessing and a completely different level of fun, however, “JV” doesn’t get the credit it deserves for getting us ready for the next level.

Most of us had to play at least a year of JV sports before we were awarded with a varsity call-up and that one year of varsity preparation does its job of getting us ready.

It’s a chance to physically catch up with our varsity counterparts, but even more than that it provides a lot of mental preparation. It gives us game experience and a chance to bond with teammates, someone could find themselves playing with for another three years.

As a sophomore playing JV lacrosse, I had one of the best seasons I’ve ever experienced and the fun has only continued on varsity; the team, the atmosphere, everything.

For lack of a better term that team was and is full of “goofballs,” so I fit in pretty well.

You know you have a tight team when you find yourself doing everything together; before practice runs to McDonald’s or Madison Deli and messing around on the sidelines. It gives a team a sense of self.

Each personality on my JV team, and now varsity team, has created two completely different atmospheres. It’s crazy that you can go from one season to the next, playing with a lot of the same guys, and have two completely different teams both years.

Those personalities mesh together and give you a quick glance at who that team was, each time you think back to it. And now with end of season call-ups, both those worlds have collided to create one utterly perfect team, full of goofballs.