A varsity letter (or monogram) is an award earned in the United States by regular participation or excellence in a school sport. Traditionally, a varsity letter signifies that its winner was a stand-out varsityathlete. Winners would wear a specially awarded letter-shaped badge on their clothing. In some institutions, the practice of awarding letters has now spread beyond the realm of strictly athletic endeavors to other activities, such as quizbowl or student publications and may also honor regular participation, reliability or sportsmanship. The word varsity can refer to several things. ... An athlete is a person possessing above average physical skills (strength, agility, and endurance) and thus seen suitable for physical activities, in particular, contests. ... Quizbowl (or Quiz-bowl or quiz bowl) is a family of games of questions and answers on all topics of human knowledge, commonly played in high school and college. ...
The varsity letter award is analogous to the longer established sporting colours award traditionally made by European universities and schools. Sporting Colours, more often known merely as colours, house-colours &c. ... A university is an institution of higher education and of research, which grants academic degrees. ... school, see School (disambiguation). ...