What Teamwork? wrote:
I was at a race recently , a high school dual meet for my son's school. Almost all of the JV team was goofing of while the Varsity raced. It was easy to cheer for them at the start, finish and two other spots on the course. but only a couple of kids bothered. Is this normal?
There are four types of JV runners
1. “The Future 7”
Freshmen/Sophomore runners with the potential/talent/work ethic to be a Varsity Runner, however the rest of the team is too good for them to be Varsity just yet, however they will be in the next year or two. These runners generally support their Varsity Teammates as they will soon be in those shoes.
2. “The Demoted”
Top 7 runners that have been bumped down to JV. These runners generally support the Varsity team as they hopefully want to be back in that spot. However, most will not admit that they are secretly pulling against the 7 runner in the hopes that his performance is inferior to theirs.
3. “The Rest”
These JV runners don’t really care that much about the team aspect. They survive practices, run in the JV, and leave before the varsity gun even goes off. These are probably the runners you saw.
4. “The Rarity”
There are a only few of these JV runners. They never make Varsity, yet they still work hard and are deeply involved in the team atmosphere. These runners are rare, as it takes a unselfish person to be one, and someone with that work ethic usually ends up on Varsity at some point in their 4 years, unless they are on one of the deep powerhouses(Loudon Valley/F-M)