In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against other secondary schools. Groups of varsity sports teams are often organized into athletic conferences, which are groups of teams that regularly play each other during a given athletic season. In recognition of their high level of performance, athletes on varsity teams are often given varsity letters.
In the UK, Varsity team refers to group matches in sport or competitions between local rival universities, most notably Oxford vs. Cambridge, De Montfort University vs. Leicester University, University College London vs. Kings College London, University of Surrey vs. Kingston University, The University of Manchester vs. Manchester Metropolitan University, Southampton University vs. Southampton Solent University, Leeds University vs. Leeds Metropolitan University, Nottingham Trent University vs. University of Nottingham, University College Plymouth vs. University of Plymouth, University of Warwick vs. Coventry University, and University of Essex vs. University of East Anglia. For this see varsity match.
Junior varsity players may be able to go up a level to varsity playing by performing well.