Would you want your son playing varsity as a 9th grader with little playing time or JV with a lot of playing time and being a captain? From a public school.
always play up - games don't matter the improvement and learning come in practice, nobody cares how many goals johnny scores in JV but practicing against 17 year old bigger stronger defensemen or covering stronger quicker players in practice as well as getting better coaching will make him a better player over the summer at recruiting events and next year when he is ready to contribute to the varsity
I agree wholeheartedly. My son played Varsity as a freshman for a top 25 team in the country, saw some time as a second line middie for parts of the season, didn't play too much at other times. Made him a much better player practicing wit the older, better players and the best coaches typically coach the Varsity team.
