Starting this fall semester, there will be no junior varsity programs for the men’s and women’s basketball programs.
“The hardest thing was finding competition,” said Loren Ferré, director of Washburn athletics.
No other teams in the MIAA currently have junior varsity programs, so Washburn had to look outside of their region to find games. The men’s team played a total of 13 games last season and the women’s team played only 11.
“Traveling for games was also becoming more difficult,” Ferré said.
The main reason Washburn had junior varsity programs was so that players could continue to compete.
“The opportunities lost are the incoming freshmen that didn’t get the chance to compete,” said Jordan Banks, the men’s assistant basketball coach.
Banks was the head junior varsity coach in previous years. Many students, such as sophomore Joel Ford, lost the chance to play organized basketball one last time.
“I was excited to play for the team and was working hard all summer,” Ford said.
Even though Ford won’t be able to play for the team, he is still able to be involved as a student manager. Unfortunately, not all students get those opportunities.
“The students want to play and are still looking forward to competition, so that’s disappointing,” Ferré said.
Although some opportunities are lost, there is still much to gain for the sports programs.
Due to the added teams, Washburn was paying for twice as many expenses, such as food and fuel, as well as allocating more resources to the programs, such as coaches’ time and focus.
“It’s a full time job so I may look to focus more on the varsity team as opposed to having to split my time,” Banks said.
Banks also stated that the junior varsity squad had little impact on how the varsity squad performed, so there will be no significant loss to the main team. The small roles that the players did have, such as helping at practice or recording game film, can be taken over by other members of the team.
Washburn’s varsity teams are both working hard to start their season strong in early November. The women’s team plays Nov. 10 against Southwestern Oklahoma State University and the men’s team plays against the University of Sioux Falls on Nov. 11.
Edited by Larissa Morgan and Aja Carter
