I’m a junior and was expecting to get on varsity automatically this year as our school normally does but the new varsity coach changed up the system and put me and a couple other juniors on JV instead. The JV coach asked if I wanted to be captain but I don’t know if playing JV is worth it or not because I will get home at 7 each night and I’m taking five APs. Should I quit and focus on my grades and try out for varsity next year or should I stay and be captain even though it’s a huge time commitment, not to mention embarassing? I’m asking in terms of how it would look on college applications as well.
Unless you are a recruited athlete (which it doesn’t sound like you are) a sport counts as a good EC – nothing more and nothing less. Admissions officers won’t really care if you were on varsity or captain of jv. The idea of an EC is to do something you enjoy and to show that you are involved in activities in your school/community outside of academics. If you enjoy participating in the sport then continue – if you think you can use your time would be better focusing on academics that is fine too as long as you find/continue your involvement in other ECs.
Make your decision based on whether you like to play or not. College AOs won’t care.
If you enjoy the sport, go for it. You don’t get better without practicing, and here’s your chance.
I know how tough it can feel when this happens. But I also know that sometimes, getting a year of a lot of playing time at JV can create a much better player than sitting on the bench for varsity. I have seen lots of “held back” players leapfrog over their promoted peers.
If you enjoy volleyball and believe that you will have fun this year even though you were placed on Junior Varsity, then I believe you should carry out the season and do varsity next year. However, grades are the most important element into getting into college and if you feel like the time commitment is going to stress you out, cause unwanted anxiety, and possibly cause your grades to slip, do not do it. Like @happy1 said, if your are not planning on playing in college all this is going to get you is an EC. And it is not even a unique EC, a lot of highschoolers play a sport.
Go with what your gut tells you. Good luck in your decision 
@juicyjjj - FWIW, my D was in the same boat. Last year she was Captain of the JV soccer team and it was her favorite year playing. She plays three sports but only varsity level in one of them, she just enjoys playing and the camaraderie, even though none of her best friends are on the teams with her. The physical activity is also a great stress reliever.
If you still want to play the sport, then be captain of JV! It’s great to have a leadership position for college applications, and you won’t have to do the extra games/tournaments required of the varsity players. Playing a sport all 4 years of high school while taking AP classes will look great on your college applications, and it won’t matter one bit whether it was JV or varsity.
I suspect you find it embarrassing to play JV as a junior, but in many large high schools, this is common. Our school even has seniors on the top JV team! They got a special award at the banquet for their commitment and love of the game!
If you don’t play JV this year, it will be very difficult for you to make varsity next year. You also don’t know if they’ll need some varsity players later in the year. My daughter’s coach used to have 3-4 jv players play up for some games (there were rules about how many games a student could play in each week, so some weeks it wasn’t possible). Sometime those players would move up permanently. As others have said, you may get a lot more playing time playing jv than being the 10th or 12th player on the varsity. Some coaches are good at playing the whole team but others have a group of starters and the others rarely play except in practice.
If you aren’t looking to play in college, sports are just another EC, but a very good EC with an opportunity to show leadership. AOs understand the time commitment for a sport and being captain.
my oldest son never made varsity while running XC, and he was slightly embarrassed at first. But as a senior he was captain of the JV team. . He would look up famous crazy motivating historical speeches each week, write them out and memorize them, and rally the troops before each race. He loved that, the kids would all kneel around him and he’d get them fired up (think of The Office epsiode where Dwight unknowingly gives a Mussolini speech); and he loved putting “Captain” down on resumes.
Enjoy your sport, do the best you can, and support everyone around with a good attitude. It all ends soon.
@bgbg4us - great story